


Will you stay?

by dunklenacht310



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst and Feels, Bottom Harry, Fluff, Gay Sex, Inspector Zayn, Just a little bit of angst though, Kid Fic, M/M, Slow Burn, Top Zayn, a huge amount of it, light mystery, like you're gonna be sick so be warned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-02 06:37:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 40,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19435948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dunklenacht310/pseuds/dunklenacht310
Summary: Something in Zayn's heart breaks a little for this family of two he’s found by chance, because Harry’s voice is delicate and quiet in a way Zayn’s sure nobody else gets to hear, it’s the same voice Louis has for his kid when no one else is listening, and it’s beautiful and heart-breaking and a thousand other things Zayn can’t even begin to name.-There are very few things Harry cares about these days. One, of course, is Lizzie, his daughter.When Zayn stumbles upon them, Harry thinks he will just be another person who will think Lizzie is too much, or not enough.Until Harry starts to receive very upsetting letters, and suddenly his love life is not his biggest problem anymore.





	1. Today is a brand new day, Daddy

**Author's Note:**

> Usual disclaimer: I don't know or own any of the characters present in this work. I only own the plot and the original characters.
> 
> Warning: The only warning I have for you is that you'll find a huge amount of fluff in this work. Sorry not sorry :)
> 
> The song mentioned in this chapter is _Butterfly kisses_ by Bob Carlisle.

When Zayn finally parks his car in front of his house and takes his sunglasses off now that he’s in the shadows of the trees, he sighs.

It’s been a rough week at the station. Well, since he became Chief Inspector, _every week_ seems to be a rough week.

It’s not even the cases, he can still handle them. It’s the fucking paperwork after, concluding the arrests, transferring the criminals to the penitentiaries, the whole process of closing a case. Now Zayn gets to do the tedious work, and he’s not on the field quite as often as he was before. That’s what gets on Zayn’s nerve.

He’s been pissy all day about literally nothing at all, as Niall and Louis have pointed out, but he’s ignored them in favour of shouting at some new officers that they needed to be _quicker faster quicker faster_. It’s not that they actually _needed_ to be, but the sooner they learn to act in times of stress, the better.

That’s how Zayn learned how to be a good cop.

Zayn feels like he’s been living in the station for the past week, only going home to sleep a couple hours. That’s pretty much the actual truth, because the two kidnapped teenagers were of course more important than Zayn’s sleep.

Now they’re home, relatively safe and sound, the case finally closed and the kidnapper behind the bars, ready for transfer the next day at 10:00 a.m., as reported on the file it took ages for Zayn to compile.

Nobody had told him the Inspector’s life was so full of paperwork.

Zayn secretly hates it, and if he had known, he’d have stayed a simple detective for the rest of his life.

As it is, what’s done is done, and his pay-check is way bigger than before, so maybe he shouldn’t complain that much.

He sighs again, and gets out of the car. After he closes it, he rolls his eyes at himself, realizing he’s forgotten his gun in the safety compartment of the car.

He doesn’t have time to open his car again, because right then, a football rolls over his feet, and Zayn immediately raises his head, seeing a small girl with ponytails looking at him from the yard of the house in front of his, ready to cross the street.

There aren’t any cars around, but just to be safe, Zayn quickly picks up the ball and crosses the street himself, smiling at the little girl and handing her the ball.

She’s extremely cute, her hair straight but repeatedly curling at the ends, a light blonde colour. Her eyes are green, and she’s wearing a green dress which matches her eyes, under a small blue coat. She mustn’t be older than six.

“Hello. Be careful, yeah? Look both ways before crossing streets”

The little girl doesn’t reply. She keeps her mouth tightly shut, and only nods, taking the ball from Zayn’s hands.

Zayn snorts. “Are you afraid a fly is gonna get into your mouth?”

The girl giggles. She has dimples in her cheeks. “My Daddy says I shouldn’t speak to strangers” she says, and then gasps with a smile “I have an idea! I’m gonna tell you my name, and you tell me yours. So we’re not strangers anymore”

Zayn nods solemnly. “I’m listening”

The little girl clears her throat. “My name is Elizabeth Styles, but everybody calls me Lizzie. Except my Daddy. He calls me ‘pumpkin’ or ‘butterfly’, or ‘Elizabeth Astrid Styles’ if he’s really mad” she says, stretching a hand out.

Zayn shakes her small hand, trying not to laugh. “Nice to meet you, Elizabeth Styles, Lizzie for friends, ‘pumpkin’, butterfly’, or ‘Elizabeth Astrid Styles’ if your Dad’s really mad” he declares “My name’s Zayn Malik. Everybody calls me Zed. My Mum calls me ‘sunshine’, or ‘Zain Javadd Malik’ if she’s really mad”

Lizzie giggles. “Nice to meet you, Zayn Malik, Zed for friends, ‘sunshine’ or ‘Zain Javadd Malik’ if your Mum’s really mad”

Zayn looks around. “Are you alone here?” he asks, frowning a little. It’s still bright outside, but a little girl this small…

Lizzie laughs. “I live here!” she points at the house behind them “My Daddy moved in a week ago. I was with my Mum but I think I made her too angry so now she doesn’t want me anymore and I’ll live with my Daddy”

 _Ah, fuck me._ “I’m sure your Mum loves you loads” Zayn tells her, kneeling a little to be at her eye-level.

 _Why am I even reassuring this little thing? I’m shit with kids. And for all I know her Mum really didn’t want her._ “I’m your neighbour then” he adds, to change the subject.

He knows someone moved in the house in front of his something like a week earlier, but seen that he almost even fucking slept at the precinct, Zayn hasn’t even seen the new person yet.

Lizzie giggles. “I know! I’ve seen you. You smoke” she scrunches her nose “You smoke very early in the morning without your shirt on. You have drawings on your body like my Daddy and my uncle Liam”

Zayn laughs. “You’re a very observant kid, ain’t you” he says, pulling a little at one of her ponytails.

“Lizzie?” someone calls, and Zayn raises his head at the voice coming from the porch of Lizzie’s new house.

 _Ah, fuck me, but really this time_ , Zayn thinks.

Lizzie’s Dad is… not like Zayn imagines _Dads_ to be like. He’s very tall, with a set of broad shoulders stretching a thin white t-shirt. His arms are covered in tattoos, small pieces dispersed along his skin with seemingly no logic or order. Zayn makes out a mermaid, an anchor, an anatomical heart, some words.

The man hastily runs down the small stairs, with long, brown curls bouncing, and he’s got super-skinny jeans on, which are wrapped around firm, long legs.

He’s fucking _fit_.

Zayn stands up just as Lizzie’s father finally reaches them, grabbing his daughter by the shoulder and pulling her to him a little, looking at Zayn in the eyes. “Can I help you?” he asks, and his voice is very low, rumbly.

His eyes are very green, same as his daughter.

Zayn clears his throat. “Hello, sorry to scare you, I didn’t mean to intrude. I just came back from work and I saw Lizzie lose her ball. I was afraid she’d cross the street without looking, so I brought it back for her. Then we got caught up in a conversation about our own names” he says gently, because it’s only fair a father would be worried about his kid talking to a stranger. “I’m Zayn. Zayn Malik. I live right there” he adds, pointing at his own house.

Lizzie’s father blinks a couple times, and then exhales a breath, closing his eyes. “No, I’m sorry, I’ve been so rude right now, forgive me” he says “My name’s Harry Styles. I moved in here a week ago, and my kid has joined me just three days after that, so I’m still… getting used to stuff?” he tries, smiling.

Zayn understands where Lizzie got the charming dimples, and _fuck_. Zayn has always been weak to dimples. He gave his first blowjob to a guy he hated in high school only because said guy had dimples.

Zayn shakes Harry’s hand, and his fingers are very long, wrapping tightly around his own. Zayn wonders what Harry could do with fingers that long, and then curses himself. He hasn’t had time to get laid lately, that’s all.

“Zayn is a cop!” Lizzie exclaims.

Zayn looks down at the little girl, feeling a bit guilty that he just made friends with her and he’s already having impure thoughts about her father. “And how would you know that?” he asks with a grin.

Lizzie giggles. “Sometimes you don’t go to work with your car, but someone picks you up with a police car” she explains “And…” she adds, and stabs a finger on Zayn’s belt, where his badge is.

Zayn thanks God that he left his gun in the safety compartment of his car. Harry already looks on edge enough, and seeing his kid close to a gun might just give him a coronary.

“You really pay attention, yeah?” he grins at the kid. “I’m Chief Inspector at the town police precinct” he then adds for Harry.

Harry sighs. “Sorry. She notices everything”

Lizzie nods and hums approvingly. “I notice everything” she agrees.

“I should have more people like you at work, dear Lizzie” Zayn sighs dramatically.

Lizzie laughs. “I’ll be a cop when I grow up, and I’ll help you!”

Harry laughs too. “Yesterday you wanted to be a ‘person who saves whales’, pumpkin”

“Today is a brand new day, Daddy” Lizzie replies solemnly.

Zayn snorts, and then covers his mouth, embarrassed when Harry looks at him. “Sorry. It was funny”

Lizzie arches an eyebrow. “Zayn, I’ll have you know that I’m _extremely_ funny” she says in a posh tone.

Harry rolls his eyes. “The sentence is mine, I said it yesterday to a friend in the exact same tone. She notices everything, and she _repeats_ it” he comments, and then pulls a little at one of Lizzie’s ponytails, like Zayn himself did a while earlier. “Alright, butterfly. Let’s leave Zayn alone now, he just came back from work and he must be tired. Say goodnight”

Lizzie pouts. “Daddy? Can I invite my friends at our place?”

Harry frowns. “Yes, pumpkin, when you’ll make new friends, you can invite them over”

Lizzie grins and looks at Zayn. “Zee, do you wanna come to our house?” she asks, and the toothy smile, the dimples and the nickname she just gave him melt Zayn’s heart a little bit. Just a little bit.

Harry gapes and then facepalms, like he wasn’t expecting Lizzie to use the new permission so soon. Zayn can see he looks a bit uncomfortable, so he decides to put the guy out of his misery and kneels in front of Lizzie. “Hey, Liz, listen, your Dad looks a bit tired, I’m sure work was exhausting for him as well. What do you say if I accept your invitation another time?”

Lizzie pouts and opens her mouth to reply, but she doesn’t speak, because Harry clears his throat and speaks first. “Um, see, the house is a bit of a mess. I still haven’t unpacked everything. But if you can ignore the mess, then you’re welcome to stay for dinner, Zayn”

Zayn looks up at Harry from where he’s still perched next to Lizzie. “Are you sure? I meant it, you must be really tired with… everything” he tries being vague, because he doesn’t want to say _your kid just moved in with you and you look like you haven’t slept properly in days._

Harry nods. “Please come. I might use some company, feels like all I’ve done these days is unpacking boxes and watching Disney movies”

Zayn chuckles.

“We can watch _The Lion King_!” Lizzie suggests.

Harry scoffs, and picks Lizzie up. “If we have guests, we’re gonna be hospitable and make nice conversation with them” he declares.

Zayn laughs. “Give me time to shower and change, then. I’ll bring dessert” he says, pulling Lizzie’s ponytail “Any allergies I should be aware of?” he adds, because you never know.

Harry smiles a little too brightly for Zayn’s own good, and the two sets of dimples he can see on father _and_ daughter are already working their magic on Zayn. “She’s allergic to strawberries” Harry says “I am completely, totally allergy-free”

“But he hates caramel!” Lizzie supplies while Harry shushes her.

Zayn chuckles. “Aight, no strawberries and caramel for you two then” he declares “See you in an hour-ish?”

The two Styles’ nod, and Zayn parts ways with them, wondering how the fuck his day went from solving a kidnapping to being invited for dinner by a six-year-old kid and her fit father.

*

Harry wonders how his day went from getting two kids out of a house of drug dealers to preparing his kitchen to receive a fit guest his six-year-old kid invited for dinner.

Luckily, he’d already made a fairly big pie and put it in the oven while Lizzie was making friends with the hot neighbour, otherwise Harry would have had literally _nothing_ to offer Zayn for that impromptu dinner.

He makes a mental note to go grocery shopping as soon as he can. Feeding himself _and_ Lizzie every day makes the food run out in an instant.

Lizzie decides that she wants to change her outfit for dinner—she’s really Harry’s daughter, isn’t she—and disappears in her room while Harry manages to have the kitchen look at least decent before Zayn arrives.

Half an hour later, when the pie is almost ready and his own t-shirt has been replaced with a black shirt patterned in polka dots, Harry realizes he’s nervous.

 _Get a grip, it’s not even_ your _guest, it’s your daughter’s_ , he tells himself to no avail.

The thing is that it’s been ages since Harry had someone over, if you don’t count Liam, who is part of Harry’s weird family anyway, so that doesn’t really count.

He didn’t believe Liam at the time, when he told him that having a kid changes everything. That you don’t have time for anything else, you don’t _want_ time for anything else.

It’s true, though. Ever since Lizzie was born, Harry’s life has revolved around her, from the very beginning, even if Lizzie hasn’t actually _lived_ with Harry up until four days ago.

Angela, Lizzie’s mother, was the one with whom Lizzie grew up. Things weren’t good anymore between Harry and Angela long before Lizzie was conceived, and if Harry thought a kid would fix things, he’d been mistaken. Things had gotten worse, but Harry always bit his tongue for the sake of his daughter.

Angela got custody, and Harry got every other weekend.

That was, until Harry discovered Angela was using.

Angela had had a drug problem when Harry had met her. With his job, he came in contact with dysfunctional people every day, so that was no surprise. But Harry had found a gentle soul behind the drugs, and afterwards, when Angela was clean and with a whole new life ahead of her, they’d started dating.

Things had gone to shit anyway, as sometimes happens when people end up staying together by force of habit rather than love. They’d had one single night of hot, angry sex after the umpteenth fight, and from that night, Lizzie was there in Angela’s belly, and Harry had abandoned every idea of breaking up with Angela on the spot. Lizzie was more important, from the day she was conceived.

It had been Angela who broke up with Harry, the very day Lizzie was born. Harry didn’t have any feelings left for his girlfriend, so he didn’t take it too badly.

What he took badly was that Angela got the lawyers involved, and made sure to get custody, relegating Harry to a small space in Lizzie’s life, two weekends a month.

Then, some weeks earlier, Lizzie had called Harry crying in the middle of the night. She had a prepaid phone, even if she was six, because Harry’s one and only condition to give up legally battling Angela with all the means he had until the end of time had been that his daughter had to have a way to reach him whenever she wanted. That night, Lizzie told him that her Mum was very angry, breaking stuff in the kitchen and scaring her.

Harry had almost smashed his car in a wall by how fast he drove to Angela’s place. He’d found her full of coke, snorting a line right in the middle of the kitchen where she was supposed to cook dinner for Lizzie.

He’d taken Lizzie away, and Angela hadn’t even noticed.

Taking Lizzie’s custody away from Angela, and getting a full one for himself, had been the work of a second. And it wasn’t only because Harry was a social worker and had a shitton of connections and important people who could vouch for him.

With the amount of drugs his colleagues found at Angela’s place during a social services inspection, there was just _no way_ a judge wouldn’t give _Harry_ Lizzie’s custody.

Harry had found himself a nice place away from Leeds, and had moved in straight away, leaving Lizzie with Liam a couple of days, while Harry cleaned up the new house a little bit.

Then, Liam had brought Lizzie to her new place with her Dad, where she fucking belonged, thank you very much. Harry wouldn’t lose Lizzie over drugs. Harry wouldn’t lose Lizzie over anything, not his job, not _anything_.

Lizzie was more important than anything else, always had been, from the very day she started being a small cell in the belly of her train-wreck of a mother.

Harry makes sure Angela is well treated in the clinic where she’s getting the help she needs. He even pays for it. But he knows that even when— _if_ —she heals and comes back, there’s no way she’s gonna get Lizzie back. Social services agree with him, and that’s the end of the story.

Of course, being a father, now a _full-time_ one, single and with a job he needs to keep to provide for Lizzie, means that Harry hasn’t had much time to _date_ in the last couple of years.

He doesn’t even think Zayn could be interested. They never are, not once they realize he’s thirty-one and already with a kid of six on his shoulders.

Not that Harry minds. If he has to spend the rest of his life alone, only taking care of Lizzie, then so be it. Lizzie is more important than anything.

Harry goes through his mail while he chuckles, hearing Lizzie singing _Hakuna Matata_ upstairs in her room, predictably. She’s having a penchant for _The Lion King_ , lately, to show her excitement for the new live action about to come out.

Listening to his daughter’s small voice in his house has always been Harry’s favourite thing in the world.

There’s a couple bills in the mail, which he puts on the counter so that he won’t forget to pay them. The rest seems to be ads. He throws them away, only keeping one about swimming classes, because Lizzie mentioned she wanted to learn how to swim some days earlier. He’ll ask her if she wants to give it a try.

The last item is a letter. It’s blank, with no sender, and Harry frowns, because it’s already the second letter like this that he gets since he moved in.

As the first letter, the only thing the envelope contains is a creepy drawing. This time, the drawing figures three kids, crying next to the body of a maimed dog.

“Fucking hell” Harry mutters, putting the drawing back in the envelope.

The drawings started the fourth day after his moving. The first one was a man, with blood gushing out of his leg. Now it’s the maimed dog.

Harry knows it’s nothing. He’s a social worker involved with taking kids away from their homes on a daily basis. It’s not like he’s never received any threats.

He’s not sure the drawings are really a threat, though. Maybe they’re just the work of stupid kids wanting to scare the newcomer. It can happen, kids can be very creative.

Maybe he should go to the police anyway, he thinks with a sigh.

Well, he lives _in front_ of the police, apparently. Maybe he’ll talk to Zayn about the drawings, if they don’t stop coming.

“Daddy!” Lizzie screams from upstairs “Can you braid my hair?”

Harry chuckles. “Coming!” he screams back.

Lizzie’s voice in his house is still the best thing in the world, even when her high-pitched screams make Harry’s ears bleed.

He takes the pie out of the oven and leaves it on the counter to cool down a little.

When he joins Lizzie in the bathroom, she’s wearing a nice white top patterned with dolphins, and a white skirt with flounces. She grins and makes a pirouette. “Thanks Daddy, I just found these in my closet with a _lot_ of other new clothes!”

Harry chuckles. “I’m glad you like them. I thought we should refresh your wardrobe a little, you’re already too tall for most of your clothes”

Lizzie giggles. “I’m gonna be as tall as you when I grow up” she says “I like this top. It has dolphins. You also have a shirt with dolphins”

Harry grins. It’s like his cheeks always hurt with Lizzie, because he’s smiling all the time when she’s there. _It’s the whole week, every week, now_ , he tells himself with a relieved sigh. “We can go out and match sometime”

Lizzie nods and hums approvingly. Harry sits on the edge of the bathtub, patting his knee. Lizzie hops and sits in his lap, and Harry slowly combs her hair before starting to braid it.

“Daddy?” she says, her voice low.

“Yeah, pumpkin”

“Do you think Mum is angry at me?”

Harry’s stomach churns a little, like every time Lizzie mentions Angela. Harry’s been as delicate as possible while also being extremely clear, that the fact Lizzie now lives with Harry is permanent. But it’s not like he could really tell Lizzie the reason, so the kid still doesn’t have a real answer as to why her Mum has gone away.

“No, butterfly” he answers “Mum loves you. She just had to go away for a while because she was very stressed, as I told you”

“I think there’s something wrong with Mum” Lizzie muses “She cried and screamed all the time. It scared me. Sometimes. Not always. I’m not a scaredy-cat”

Harry is glad Lizzie’s facing the other way while he braids her hair, because he knows he still has a hard time controlling his facial expressions when Lizzie gives him details about how hard it was to live with Angela, even if she can’t understand the reason. “I know. You’re very brave, my pumpkin” he says slowly “Your Mum is just very stressed, okay? Sometimes, when adults are too stressed, they can be a bit scary. But she’ll get the rest she needs, and she’ll be better”

Lizzie hums. “Can I stay with you even when she’s better? You’re stressed for your work sometimes, too. But you’re not scary”

 _Fucking Angela, almost fucking up my daughter for life._ “Of course, butterfly. You’re staying right next to me for the rest of your life. Whether you want it or not!” he adds with an evil laugh, and playfully bites Lizzie’s shoulder, the braid finished and secured with an hair-tie at the end.

“Daddy!” Lizzie screams, jumping off Harry’s lap and laughing “You’re silly”

Harry clutches at his chest. “My own daughter calling me silly! The nerve!”

Lizzie laughs, and runs away while Harry pretends to run after her.

The doorbell rings right in that moment. “It’s Zayn!” Lizzie screams “I’ll get the door!”

“Don’t run on the stairs!” Harry warns her.

He hears the thumping of Lizzie’s feet stop, followed by a more normal pacing, and he chuckles.

Then, Harry hears the sound of the door being opened. “Hi, Zee, sorry I made you wait, my Daddy said I couldn’t run on the stairs”

“Your Dad’s right, Liz. It’s dangerous”

“ _Danger? Hah!_ ” Lizzie exclaims “ _I walk on the wild side. I laugh in the face of danger, ah ah ah ah!_ ”

Harry is a bit ashamed that he recognizes the _Lion King_ quote on the spot. His Disney knowledge has improved tenfold since Lizzie was born.

He hears Zayn laugh manically, a very impressive cartoon cackle. “ _Well, well, well, Banzai, what have we got here?_ ” he replies, like one of the hyenas in the movie.

 _Oh my God he’s perfect_ , Harry thinks, without being able to stop his thoughts.

“Oh my God, Zee, you’re _perfect_ ” Lizzie sighs.

 _Great. Now she even repeats my_ thoughts.

*

Harry shows up right when Zayn is losing the _Lion King_ quote battle against Lizzie, and Zayn has to take a deep, hidden breath when he catches sight of him.

The white t-shirt is gone, replaced by a black shirt with polka dots, and it’s a bit open on the chest, showing a hint of more tattoos under Harry’s collarbones.

Zayn smiles at Harry and raises the bag he’s holding. “Hi. I brought apricot tart. And I didn’t know what you and Lizzie drink, so I thought I’d stay safe and I brought apple juice”

Harry chuckles and takes the bag from Zayn’s hands. “Thank you. You didn’t have to”

Zayn scratches the back of his head, feeling a bit self-conscious about the whole situation. “Eh, like, I didn’t bake the tart or anything. It was my birthday yesterday and my sister made it for me, but I didn’t have time to even look at it ‘cause I was at the precinct from yesterday morning until a couple hours ago. I hope you’re not offended”

Lizzie gasps. “Happy birthday, Zee!” she exclaims, hugging his leg “Oh my God that’s crazy, my birthday is in three days! I’m gonna be _six_!” she adds, showing Zayn her open palm and adding her other thumb next to it.

“Oh wow, don’t go so fast or next month you’ll wake up and you’ll be as old as me” Zayn replies with a snort.

Lizzie giggles. “You’re silly, Zee”

Zayn gasps dramatically and brings a hand to his chest. “My new favourite neighbour calling me silly! The nerve!”

Lizzie laughs harder. “That’s how my Daddy always replies when I call him silly” she comments.

Zayn looks at Harry, and there’s a lovely red tint to his cheeks. Zayn’s own face feels a bit warm too, if he’s honest. What’s even happening to him? He likes kids, but he’s _shit_ with them.

Harry graciously doesn’t reply, but he points his head to the corridor. “Please come in” he says “I made eggplant pie, I hope you like it. You asked for allergies earlier, but I didn’t think of returning the question”

Zayn follows Harry until they’re in a neat kitchen with black marble countertops and white furniture. There’s a fairly big fridge covered in magnets holding up drawings and pictures and notes, and everything looks spotless clean. “I am completely allergy-free as well” Zayn answers “And by the way, if this is your idea of _a mess_ , I’ll never invite you to my place”

Harry laughs and takes the tart out of the bag, positioning it on the counter. “Wait until you see the rest of the house. I might have done a little bit of cleaning here before you showed up, but the rest is really disgraceful I’m afraid”

“I’m sure it isn’t” Zayn retorts “Can I help?”

Lizzie jumps next to a cabinet she can’t reach. “We need plates and glasses!”

Harry chuckles and looks at Zayn. “Whatever the lady asks for” he says.

Zayn promptly reaches Lizzie by the cabinet, because it’s safer than being caught staring at Harry for too long. Lizzie directs him into taking out three plates and three glasses, and then picks up three forks by herself from the drawer, handing them to Zayn before also taking out only two knives, extra slowly and extra carefully, picking them up by the handle, passing them to Zayn as well while he watches her.

“Look at you, being so careful tonight to impress our guest” Harry comments.

Lizzie arches an eyebrow. “I have to be careful, Daddy, or I’ll cut myself and we’re gonna end up in the hospital” she replies with an eyeroll.

Harry laughs, and Zayn joins him. “She’s got quite the mouth, eh?” Zayn observes.

“You have no idea what you got yourself into” Harry replies with a sigh.

“I think I’ll survive” Zayn retorts with a wink.

Harry gapes a little, and then chuckles and turns to the pie, starting to cut it and apparently taking care of being extra careful with the knife himself, since he keeps his eyes on it for ages.

Zayn grins a little to himself, and then mentally kicks himself in the bollocks. _Stop flirting, Zayn_ , he tells himself.

Lizzie takes out a smaller, blunt knife from the cutlery drawer for herself, and then instructs Zayn on how to set the perfect dining table. Zayn follows all her commands, and soon enough the three of them are sitting in front of plates full of pie, with apple juice in their glasses, and an extremely happy little girl talking Zayn’s ears off in a way he finds adorable.

Zayn’s eyes drift to the pictures on the fridge a couple times during the dinner. All the pictures are of Harry and Lizzie, sometimes by themselves, sometimes with another man with a kind smile and a buzzcut, tattoos running along his arms in geometric shapes.

“That’s Liam, my best friend” Harry says, probably catching where Zayn’s eyes have landed “He’s my co-worker as well. We’re both social workers, only he’s in the mental illnesses department, while I’m in child care”

Zayn nods. “Must be tough at times, I reckon”

“Yeah. Most of the time, I won’t lie” Harry sighs “But it’s also gratifying, you know. Like, I can sleep at night knowing kids have been extracted from a toxic environment and will get the care they need and deserve. Even if they think they don’t need it”

“My Daddy is _the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs_ ” Lizzie declares, and _well_ , if Zayn had any doubts that this kid might just be one of the _best_ kids he’s ever met, the _Batman_ quote confirms it.

Harry rolls his eyes. “Her head is _full_ of quotes from everything ever written or filmed”

Zayn grins at Lizzie. “Is he _a silent guardian, a watchful protector_?” he asks the little girl.

Lizzie’s eyes shot open. “You also like _Batman_?” she shrieks after she gulps down her mouthful, like a proper little lady.

Harry facepalms. “And now it’s two of them. I can’t win”

Zayn chuckles and pats Harry on the shoulder. “I think you were losing already from the start, babe”

Harry goes a dark crimson, and Zayn curses himself a little for probably already stepping out of line and fucking this up, but then Harry smiles. “Yeah. With this one, I had literally zero chances of winning from the start” he says, looking at Lizzie while she’s distracted with the food, and Harry’s gaze is something more than fond, something Zayn has always associated with the way _his own_ parents have always looked at him and his sisters, like they’re small—or not so small—miracles.

Zayn doesn’t have any kids, and has honestly never thought about having them, since he’s never even had a relationship which lasted more than a handful of months, but now he finds himself wondering how it would feel, having a small one around the house.

Louis always told Zayn that having a kid changes everything, and Zayn has never doubted Louis’s word. When Freddie was born, Louis himself changed a little. Not in a bad way, though. It’s like everything he does and thinks revolves around the little life he helped create, and Zayn knows Louis wouldn’t have it any other way.

Zayn does a sick job of filling the role of _Uncle Zed_ , if he says so himself, but he’s never imagined having a kid of his own nonetheless.

Looking at Harry, he thinks the love he sees in his green eyes is something you can’t really fully understand until you feel it with your own heart and skin.

Zayn’s heart also constricts a little bit when he remembers Lizzie’s words from earlier. _I think I made my Mum too angry and now she doesn’t want me anymore_. Zayn has only known the kid for a couple hours, but he thinks anyone would have to be utterly mad not to want this little girl in cute outfits and ponytails.

“Do you have a girlfriend, or a boyfriend, Zee?” Lizzie asks while they’re eating Zayn’s—Safaa’s—dessert.

Harry clears his throat very loudly. “Pumpkin, what did we say about asking people personal questions?”

Lizzie gasps. “Sorry! Can I ask you a personal question, Zee, please?”

Zayn laughs. “It’s all good, Liz. Why did you ask about girlfriends or boyfriends?”

Lizzie shrugs. “I can’t know for sure, maybe you like both girls and boys. Like my Daddy. He’s bi”

Harry almost chokes on his juice, but he masks it so well Zayn decides to cut him some slack and ignore him for the time being. “I see” he tells Lizzie instead “Well, Liz, I don’t have anyone at the moment, but if I did, it would be a boyfriend” he adds very slowly, and very clearly.

 _Your daughter asked, you might as well know I’m single and into men, Harry Styles_ , he thinks to himself.

Lizzie nods. “Oh, okay. I think I like boys too. But I don’t know for sure yet, I’ll tell you when I’m older”

Harry’s lower eyelids are dangerously twitching when Zayn is finally able to look at him again without a grin, and maybe he’s happy about getting confirmation Zayn is gay, or maybe he’s just aghast at the thought his little girl will eventually have a boyfriend.

Either way, Harry gulps down the rest of his juice. “Lovely” he just says.

“Lovely” Lizzie repeats in his same tone.

“Lovely” Zayn says for the third time, matching their tone as well.

Lizzie giggles and yawns. She looks a bit tired now that the dinner is done, but she keeps her eyes open for a while longer, even if she doesn’t participate in the conversation as actively as usual while Zayn and Harry talk about how Harry finds the new town, the new house, the new school for Lizzie.

At some point, Lizzie’s head starts to sway, and the next moment she’s falling asleep right away and also sliding off the chair.

Harry’s sitting in front of her and he stands up in an instant, but Zayn’s closer, so he catches Lizzie before she can really fall. He holds her against his chest by sheer reflex, and she doesn’t even wake up. She only wraps her arms around his neck, and snuffles.

Zayn looks at Harry, scared of having crossed a line by just holding his asleep daughter without permission. But Harry’s just staring at him, very pale, but with a sigh of relief.

“Thanks” he tells Zayn, his breath a bit uneven “Shit, I was scared she was gonna fall and hurt herself, thanks for catching her, I’m so stupid, I didn’t realize she was so tired already, sorry, thanks”

“Hey” Zayn whispers, not to wake Lizzie up “Hey, Haz. It’s okay. I was just closer. It’s fine, she’s okay”

In that moment, as Harry sighs again and brushes his face with his hands, Zayn realizes just how tired he looks as well. Zayn doesn’t know exactly what’s going on with his life and the life of his kid, but he can imagine how hard it must be, because he knows Lizzie wasn’t living _full-time_ with Harry a week earlier, and it must have been quite a life change. Harry looks utterly puzzled and worried, so Zayn keeps just smiling at him until Harry relaxes a little and does the same.

“Show me to her room? I can help you put her to bed if you want” Zayn says carefully “If not it’s fine, I’ll hand you the treasure”

Harry chuckles. “It’s fine, come on up”

Zayn slowly follows Harry up the stairs, being very careful of the steps even if Lizzie weighs close to nothing. The thought of _what the fuck are you doing, already getting so involved, it’s not like you at all and maybe it’s not even right_ crosses his mind for a moment, but Lizzie’s arms tighten around his neck like she can feel what he’s thinking, and after that Zayn is just a bit amazed at how _nice_ it feels to hug her to his chest.

 _Maybe I’m not_ totally _shit with kids, if Freddie and Lizzie like me_ , he thinks briefly.

Harry opens a door in the corridor, next to a bathroom and another room which is probably his own, and Zayn steps inside after him.

Lizzie’s room is dark, but Harry steps next to the bed and flicks a switch, and a second later a string of fairy lights comes to life, glowing but just dimly, painting the room in a warm yellow and illuminating clear walls, a white closet with a full-body mirror, a desk with a swivel chair next to it, a fairly big bed, and a carpet in the shape of a mermaid next to the bed.

Zayn gets a bit distracted by the string of fairy lights, which starts by the nightstand and runs up the wall till the ceiling.

Then he hears Harry chuckle delicately. “She doesn’t like sleeping in total darkness” he whispers, and his voice is impossibly low, it reverberates through Zayn’s ribcage even if they’re not touching “I thought it would give the room a nice touch. This is the only room I had ready before she moved in with me. I honestly didn’t give a fuck about all the rest”

Zayn nods, because he doesn’t know Harry, and yet he already knows it’s so _him_ , to only have thought of his daughter first thing. “It’s beautiful” he only says.

He doesn’t look at Harry, because he’s honestly feeling a bit overwhelmed, so he resorts to focus on Lizzie himself, and he delicately places the little girl’s sleeping frame on the bed, going immediately out of the room when Harry starts to take care of changing her clothes into her pyjamas.

Once Zayn’s out of the room, he plans on going down the stairs again and wait, but then he hears Lizzie’s sleepy voice from where he is in the corridor.

“Daddy?” she slurs “Did Zee go away?”

“Yes, butterfly” Harry replies “Time to sleep now, yeah?”

Lizzie hums. “Can you sing me a song, Daddy?”

“Of course”

Zayn stays frozen where he is, listening to Harry hum a song about _butterfly kisses_ and _Daddy’s little girl_ , and something in his heart breaks a little for this family of two he’s found by chance, because Harry’s voice is delicate and quiet in a way Zayn’s sure nobody else gets to hear, it’s the same voice Louis has for his kid when no one else is listening, and it’s beautiful and heart-breaking and a thousand other things Zayn can’t even begin to name.

Zayn has to force himself to move when Harry’s song is over, because he doesn’t want Harry to find him there and think he stayed to eavesdrop, so he quietly goes down the stairs and back to the kitchen, and starts to do the dishes while he waits for Harry to come back too. It’s not like he can go without saying goodbye.

“Oh, Zayn, you didn’t have to” he hears Harry’s voice behind him, which makes Zayn start. Harry laughs. “The big bad cop startled by teeny tiny me” he comments.

Zayn laughs too, and flings a dishrag at him. “I was lost in thought, that’s the only reason”

Harry hums. “Yeah, sure” he drawls, taking the rag and starting to dry the plates Zayn has lined in the dishrack next to the sink.

They’re done in no time, and without any task at hand, Zayn weirdly finds himself with nothing to do about his arms and legs being there, and with half a mind that he doesn’t wanna leave yet.

Harry clears his throat. “I know you must be tired even if it’s not even ten, but if you don’t wanna go yet, I have beers”

It’s far too easy for Zayn to nod. “Yeah, alright, I could do with a beer”

“You sure? You said you haven’t come back home to sleep last night. And my kid talked your ear off tonight. So if you’re exhausted you can go, I understand” Harry replies, awkwardly tormenting the rings on his _long long long_ fingers.

Zayn chuckles. “I am a grown man, Harry Styles, you can’t send me to bed at nine thirty”

Harry barks a laugh and then squeezes his eyes shut covering his mouth. Then he slowly opens one eye, looking at the stairs, but no sound comes from Lizzie’s room. Harry sighs. “Fucking hell” he mutters, and then opens the fridge, retrieving two beers and uncapping one for Zayn before handing it to him. He does the same with his and then sighs again. “Ready to face the danger of the living room?”

“ _I laugh in the face of danger_ ” Zayn replies with a grin.

Harry rolls his eyes. “I swear to God, when Lizzie is asleep, anything Disney-related is _forbidden_ ” he declares.

Zayn chuckles and follows Harry down the corridor, until they get into a spacious living room. There’s nothing much there, to be honest. The couch and the tv screen are in place, but for the rest, the room is empty, and a line of seven boxes is taking over half of the room. The fireplace doesn’t have wood in it, but the heating of the house is clearly working so it’s fine, and the sill on the top looks a bit sad without any pictures or knick-knacks. A wooden table is currently leaning against the wall, still not assembled, with the surface placed vertically next to the four legs.

All in all, though, the room is clean and neat much like the kitchen. It just needs to be… put together.

“I was told there was gonna be a jungle, monsters of dust and krakens of rust, with rivers of mud flowing and Nile crocodiles swimming in them” Zayn sighs dramatically.

Harry laughs. “Hold your horses, _Jumanji_. I just said it was a mess”

“I have a vivid imagination”

Harry sits on the couch and pats it. “Then no wonder my kid likes you. She can make up stories with just a two-words prompt”

“My favourite game” Zayn grins, sitting next to Harry. The couch is black, in fake leather, and it’s brand new, so Zayn hears it squeak under his arse. “Nah, not really. I don’t get to play much, and I’m kinda shit with kids”

Harry frowns. “Are you joking? You have Lizzie wrapped around your little finger since earlier this afternoon. Although maybe the feeling’s kinda mutual”

Zayn chuckles. “Yeah. But she’s a very sociable kid, she could probably make friends with the Grim Reaper too”

Harry shakes his head. “Not at all. It’s actually kinda surprising. Lizzie is very shy, believe it or not. I’ve never seen her be so at ease with someone she doesn’t know so quick” he says pensively, swirling the bottle of his beer “Her teachers say she hasn’t spoken to anyone in her class yet”

Zayn sighs. “You said she’s been here for just four days?”

Harry nods. “Five tomorrow”

Zayn shrugs. “Then it’s normal. It takes a while to… get settled. I talked to Louis and Niall, my co-workers and now best friends of seven years, only three months after I was hired at the precinct” he tells Harry, surprising himself yet again about how _easily_ the words come to him “We shy people take a while, but when we decide you’re good, we’re a bit like a fireball”

Harry huffs a laugh. “Yeah, that’s a good way to describe Lizzie too”

“I think she liked me on the spot ‘cause of the tattoos” Zayn says “She said I have ‘drawings on my body’ like her Daddy and her uncle Liam”

Harry nods. “Her Mum always hated tattoos. I remember when Lizzie was just months old and I moved out of the house and her mother got custody, I was afraid she’d raise Lizzie with the thought I was a bad father ‘cause of the tattoos”

Zayn is a cop, so he automatically files information in his brain. From what he’s gathered so far about Lizzie’s mother, she isn’t looking like a nice person. “Is she, like…” Zayn asks, not even sure himself what he’s asking and if he can.

Harry shrugs. “She’s out of the picture” he answers “Angela, that’s my ex-girlfriend’s name, she… she’s a junkie. She wasn’t when we started dating, but she’d been before. She’s been clean for years, but relapse is something that can _always_ happen, and she relapsed. With our daughter right next to her. It was a whole mess” he waves with his hand, like he wants to dismiss the incredibly sad, worrying, terrible thing he just admitted to a stranger “Sorry, way to dampen the mood. I’m afraid I’m not as cheerful as I am when Lizzie is around”

Zayn does the only thing he can think of. He pats Harry on his tattooed arm and smiles as brightly as he can. “Well, then good thing you’ll have her around all the time from now on, right?”

Harry gapes a little, and then nods. “Yeah. Sometimes it… it feels like I’m gonna wake up and it’s just gonna be a wild dream full of healthy food and Disney movies”

“Babe, a force of nature like your daughter can hardly be just a dream” Zayn assures him, and there it is again, the fucking pet name Zayn gives out like candy, and the lovely crimson on Harry’s cheeks.

They finish their beers talking about fuck all, Zayn’s job, Harry’s job, Lizzie’s birthday in three days, and that’s how a couple more hours go by before Zayn even notices.

When Harry yawns, Zayn decides to get out of his hair and let both of them get their sleep, so he stands up. “Thanks for having me. I haven’t had a night in this fun in ages” he says, sincerely.

Harry smiles. “Anytime. We’re gonna be here next time as well. If you, like, if you even want a next time, that is” he says, frowning at something he’s not saying explicitly, and Zayn knows it’s not just the question about if Zayn wants to see him again, but also about if he wants to see _his daughter_ again.

Zayn instantly remembers something Louis always says. _I never let random people get close to Freddie, Zed, because if they won’t come back, if they don’t deem me_ and him _enough, they’re gonna break his heart by not showing up again._

Harry must be thinking the same thing. So Zayn smiles. “I don’t plan on going anywhere, so you and Lizzie will find me right here as well, Harry” he says.

Harry sighs. “I appreciate it very much. And I’m glad Lizzie made friends with you. We could use a friend. _I_ could use a friend” he confesses.

Zayn grins. “I might be shit with kids, but I’m good at friendships” he declares.

Harry chuckles. “I wish everybody was as shit as you with kids” he retorts as they slowly reach the door.

Once they’re there and Zayn is wearing his shoes and coat again, there’s an awkward moment in which neither of them knows how to move, and then they make a couple awkward attempts at shaking hands. Zayn gets tired immediately and scoffs, deciding to put them both out of their misery and going for a hug.

Harry seems to hold his breath for a moment as their arms wrap around each other. He’s not wearing any cologne, it’s just his own scent and a hint of deodorant, and Zayn secretly loves it. They hold each other for a couple more seconds, and then Zayn reluctantly lets go. “I’ll see you very soon then, yeah?” he asks, and means it, means it more than he’s ever meant it in a long while.

Harry nods. “Yeah” he says, sighs “Very soon. I think you’ll receive an official invitation to Lizzie’s birthday on Friday. If I manage to make decent invitation cards like Lizzie asked, that is. I’m shit at drawing. But anyway, if you have to work or just have stuff to do, don’t feel obligated. I’m sure she’ll understand” he rambles, in a way Zayn already classifies as _very Harry_.

Zayn rolls his eyes. “Harry, your daughter might be one of the few kids that actually like me. I’m not gonna fuck it up by not attending her birthday, what do you think I am, stupid?”

Harry sighs and shakes his head. “No, but I’m not sure you’re real either” he says, and then snaps his mouth shut, like he didn’t mean to say it out loud.

Zayn feels his stomach do something funny, but decides it’s safer to blame it on the big dinner and the beer, so he just chuckles and tries not to make a fool of himself by grinning like a maniac. “I think I am” he just says, and then pinches his own arm “See? Real. Goodnight, babe”

Harry blushes, and this time, Zayn has done it totally on purpose. “Goodnight, Zayn. It was lovely meeting you”

Zayn goes down the stairs of the porch walking backwards, his stupid grin escaping his control while he tries to be cool and not split his head open. He manages the latter, but he’s not sure about the first. “Likewise, Harry Styles. Likewise”


	2. You're a superhero, Zee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Lizzie? What are you doing?”  
> “I think Zee got hurt. He’s going home and his friend is helping him up the stairs”  
> Harry feels his stomach turn unpleasantly, and he closes the tap before drying his hands and joining Lizzie at the window, not caring if they look like a family of stalkers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Usual disclaimer: I don't know or own any of the characters present in this work. I only own the plot the original characters.

Harry wakes up with a headache.

He turns in his bed and looks at the small alarm clock on the nightstand, one of the very few things he had time to equip his new bedroom with, and a red 9:45 glares back at him.

He sighs, thanking God that he took some days off at work, and the school is closed until Monday for a leak, because his 7 o’ clock alarm didn’t wake him up. They’re okay, Harry didn’t fuck up by oversleeping.

He slowly sits up. Lately, his life seems to run on the fear of fucking something up at all times. He knows it’s just a sheer reflex of the new responsibility of being Lizzie’s one and only legal guardian, but still Harry can’t help overthinking everything to the point of exhaustion.

_Do I have enough food to feed her?_

_Does she need help with homework?_

_Do I look like I don’t know what I’m doing?_

_Will she hate me if I don’t manage to make cool invitation cards for her birthday, and her classmates don’t come to the party, and she’ll never make friends with them?_

Harry tells himself to stop, that he’s exaggerating, and gets out of bed shaking his hair and tying it in a bun while he goes to the bathroom. He reaches for the highest shelf in the cabinet and retrieves a couple of paracetamols, which he gulps down with some water from the faucet. He knows the meds are not gonna do much, because he probably just needs to sleep for three days straight to get rid of the soreness and the headache, but seeing that he probably will never sleep more than seven hours until Lizzie goes to college, he has to have faith in the paracetamols to contain the damage.

Harry peeks into Lizzie’s room, and finds the bed perfectly made, with no sign of his daughter in the room. He doesn’t have time to uselessly panic, because right then he hears her singing _I Just Can’t Wait To Be King_ from the kitchen downstairs.

He chuckles, cursing and loving Lizzie’s _Lion King_ obsession in equal parts. Maybe it’ll tune itself down once the new movie comes out.

Harry reaches the kitchen and barely has time to take a look at Lizzie before she screams. “NO DADDY YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO LOOK YET!”

Harry screams too and immediately covers his eyes with his hands. “SORRY!” he shouts.

Lizzie giggles. “Daddy, you scream too much” she comments.

Harry arches an eyebrow, which goes unnoticed under his palms covering his face, and he patiently waits while Lizzie keeps humming and singing to herself, doing something around the kitchen and trying to be as quiet as possible.

“Did you break something and you’re trying to cover the evidence?” Harry asks.

“ _You_ broke a plate yesterday morning” Lizzie retorts.

Harry laughs, because it’s true, and apparently his kid won’t let him live it down.

“Okay” she declares after a couple minutes “Daddy, you can look now”

Harry makes a show of uncovering his eyes, and what he finds makes his heart melt in ways he’ll never be able to properly describe.

Lizzie made him breakfast. It’s not much, and yet it’s everything.

There is a bowl full of the Greek yoghurt Harry likes and Lizzie hates, and another bowl with milk for herself. The jar with their cereals is in the middle of the table, next to the half-empty bottle of apple juice Zayn brought them yesterday. Spoons are perfectly placed next to the bowls, and there’s even a couple of sliced apples, completely destroyed because clearly Lizzie tried to cut them with _her_ blunt knife, since she’s a responsible little girl and she knows she can’t use _real_ knives.

Lizzie is by the table still in her flowery pyjamas, grinning with all her teeth on display—she still hasn’t started losing her baby teeth—and bouncing on the balls of her socked feet while she blatantly waits for Harry’s judgement.

Harry smiles. “Oh my God, thank you so much, butterfly, this all looks _amazing_!” he exclaims, and he’s not even lying, not in the slightest, not even if he notices that cereal has already been poured in his yoghurt and it’s gonna be soaked and disgusting by the time he’s gonna eat it. There’s a cherry on top of the cereal poultry.

He’ll be damned if he won’t eat every single thing Lizzie prepared.

Lizzie laughs and runs to him, hugging his legs. “Happy New House, Daddy” she says “I wanted to give you a present but I couldn’t buy anything because I don’t have a bank account yet, and you always wake up before me so I couldn’t make you breakfast before”

Harry chuckles but is dangerously feeling like crying too as he kneels down to be at eye-level with Lizzie. “This is the best housewarming present I’ve ever received” he tells her.

Lizzie smiles, her small dimples digging deep in her cheeks. “Oh, okay. Let’s eat now!”

They spend more time than they usually do on breakfast, because they don’t have anywhere to be and if Harry wants to be lazy around the house with his daughter, he bloody _can_ , cheers. Harry asks her what she would like as a birthday present on Friday, but Lizzie just shrugs and says that the only thing she wants is for Harry to bring her to the cinema to watch _The Lion King_ on Saturday afternoon. She’s not a kid for expensive gifts, his Lizzie, not even when she knows Harry would gladly buy her the fucking moon if she asked for it.

Lizzie talks and talks, about her classmates—who she already knows all the names of, and plans to invite them to her party even if she hasn’t spoken to them yet—and her teachers, about learning about dinosaurs in school yesterday, “Did you know that the T-Rex was very big but it had very short arms, Daddy?” and “Do you think they really became extinct or did they just fly away to another planet, Daddy?”. Harry listens to every single statement and answers every single question, because he still isn’t tired of having her around for so long, and knowing himself, he probably never will be tired.

He briefly thinks about Zayn, their extremely hot neighbour whom Lizzie invited for dinner the night before. Zayn had also matched Lizzie’s conversation sentence for sentence, never talking to her condescendingly, but treating her as his equal and looking like he was really enjoying making friends with her.

 _The world needs more people like Zayn Malik_ , Harry thinks with a sigh. _And maybe_ I _need someone like Zayn Malik. If he ever even_ thought _about me in that sense, which probably isn’t the case because I have a kid and it might be nice to play with her but dating her father? That’s a whole other deal, isn’t it._

Harry keeps thinking and re-thinking about Zayn while he does the dishes for their breakfast.

He’s told Lizzie that they can go take a walk around the town since the weather is so nice despite it being the middle of winter, and they can have lunch somewhere, so of course Lizzie is already ready to go, with her pink dress in place and her hair loose and waiting for Harry The Master Of Braids.

Harry, though, is still in his sweats and with his hands in a sink full of soap while Lizzie graciously waits with a minimal amount of suppressed sighs. Harry chuckles.

“Daddy?” she says at last.

Harry hums. “Sorry, pumpkin, I know I’m being slow, I’m almost done”

“No Daddy it’s okay. It’s just…” she doesn’t finish the sentence.

Harry turns from the sink, and finds Lizzie by the window, her nose pressed against the glass and a frown on her small face. “Lizzie? What are you doing?”

Lizzie frowns deeper. “I think Zee got hurt. He’s going home and his friend is helping him up the stairs”

Harry feels his stomach turn unpleasantly, and he closes the tap before drying his hands and joining Lizzie at the window, not caring if they look like a family of stalkers.

Zayn is indeed going up the stairs of his porch with the help of a man with brown hair, and he’s clearly trying to convince the man not to help him, only to stumble a little when the guy finally lets him go with a smirk. Zayn has a bandage around his arm, and a sling holding it in place against his chest, with a strap around his neck.

“Is he really hurt?” Lizzie asks, her tone aghast.

Harry sighs. “I think so, butterfly. Don’t worry, I’m sure he’s gonna be okay. We can go check up on him tomorrow”

_I kinda wanna go now, to be honest._

“Daddy can we go now?” Lizzie asks, raising his head to look at him “I’m worried, what if he lives alone and he needs help?”

The thought Zayn might _not_ live alone has never crossed Harry’s mind, but what if he really has someone, what if Harry is already overstepping his boundaries, what if the man he’s with is not just a friend, what if…

“Okay” he finds himself saying without really deciding first “Let’s go check on him before he goes to bed to get some rest then”

Lizzie nods energetically and ties her own hair in a ponytail, the braid forgotten. They both rustle to get their shoes on in the entrance, Harry shoving his feet in his boots and then kneeling to help Lizzie tie her shoelaces. While they get ready, Harry sees another blank envelope on the floor, in front of the mail slot in the door. Harry rolls his eyes and takes the letter, putting it on the small counter in the entrance and deciding he’ll take care of this whole creepy drawings thing later.

When they’re ready and with their coats on, Harry and Lizzie go out the door, and Lizzie holds Harry’s hand as they cross the street.

Zayn is still on his own stairs, talking to the other man, who to a closer inspection reveals a set of really blue, kinda intimidating eyes.

Zayn catches sight of Harry and Lizzie, and he smiles a little, trying to wave at them before remembering his arm is hurt, and wincing.

The man also sees Harry and Lizzie after Zayn’s failed attempt at saying hi.

Lizzie releases Harry’s hand when they’re safely on Zayn’s small yard, and runs on the stairs. “Zee! Are you hurt? I saw you and told my Daddy I wanted to see if you were hurt very badly”

Zayn looks at Harry and smiles a bit more, before kneeling in front of Lizzie. The man next to him moves to help him, but Zayn shakes his head. “I’m fine, Lou, I swear” he says patiently, and then looks at Lizzie “Yeah, Liz, I got hurt at work, but it’s nothing bad. I’m sorry if I worried you”

“My Daddy was worried too. He said we could come to check up on you”

Harry tries to keep his cool and just smiles.

The other man arches an eyebrow. “Did he now” he says with a smirk “You must be the Styles’. Zayn has done _nothing_ but talk about the two of you today. Between a stabbing and the other that is”

“ _Louis_ ” Zayn growls and defensively grabs Lizzie, like he wants to distract her so she won’t realize Louis was indeed talking about Zayn just being _stabbed_.

Louis seems to realize only then that the kid is very small, and pales a little, looking at Harry. “Fu… Freak. I’m sorry. I didn’t, like, I didn’t mean to, I also have a kid, he’s eight, I’d never want him to hear, like, I’m sorry”

Harry finds himself chuckling at the stuttered apology, and takes a step closer to them. “It’s all good. She’ll probably just think Zayn is even cooler now” he says “I’m Harry Styles, nice to meet you. We live across the street”

Louis shakes Harry’s hand. “Louis Tomlinson. I’m Zayn’s co-worker and best friend. Sorry to scare you, he got hurt while catching a running suspect and I brought him home to rest. It was hard to convince him, though”

Harry arches an eyebrow at Zayn, who is still kneeling in front of Lizzie. “Are you one of those superheroes who never sleep?” he asks.

Zayn sighs dramatically. “Crime never sleeps, Harry, and so I shan’t”

Lizzie gasps. “Were you _stabbed_ by a _criminal_?” she asks, only then processing what is happening “That’s _so cool_ , Zee!”

Harry sighs and looks at Louis. “See? Told ya”

Louis laughs. “Yes, sweetie, Zayn risked his life for the greater good and all that”

Lizzie nods, and then hugs Zayn unexpectedly. “You’re a superhero, Zee! Congratulations!”

Zayn is looking a bit abashed in that moment, his eyes huge in his face as he realizes what Lizzie is doing and slowly hugs her back. Harry stares at the scene and his heart starts doing somersaults in his chest, although he tries to keep a straight face in front of Louis—and Zayn himself.

Louis is apparently not fooled, because he takes a look at Zayn, another one at Harry, and then chuckles. “I see” he just says, without voicing his thoughts any further.

 _What_ do _you see? ‘Cause I don’t know what is happening_ , Harry thinks, but doesn’t say out loud.

Lizzie looks at Louis for some moments, taking care of staying close to Zayn with one of her small hands holding the lapel of Zayn’s jacket. Harry chuckles at her, because he can clearly see her deliberate in her head on whether Louis should stay a stranger or not. Like Harry told Zayn the night before, Lizzie might give the impression of a very sociable kid, but she’s actually very shy and doesn’t trust strangers easily.

In the end, Lizzie seems to decide Louis is fine, and clears her throat. “Hello” she tells Louis, stretching out her hand “My name is Elizabeth Styles. Everybody calls me Lizzie. Except my Daddy, he calls me ‘butterfly’ or ‘pumpkin’, or ‘Elizabeth Astrid Styles’ if he’s really mad. Oh, and Zee calls me ‘Liz’. Nice to meet you”

Harry snorts a little at Lizzie introducing herself like she’s Daenerys fucking Targaryen, and he exchanges a glance with Zayn, who is also holding back a laugh.

Louis nods solemnly, shaking Lizzie’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Elizabeth Styles, ‘Lizzie’, ‘butterfly’, ‘pumpkin’, ‘Elizabeth Astrid Styles’ if your father is really mad, and ‘Liz’ just for your _Zee_ ” he repeats with a grin “I’m Louis Tomlinson. My friends call me Lou. And my ex-wife calls me in ways I will not tell you until you’re twenty-five”

Lizzie giggles, even if she probably doesn’t understand what Louis means, and Harry laughs as well. This Louis seems fun, and if Lizzie likes him, then he’s definitely a good one.

“Okay” Louis sighs at last “I’m afraid I gotta get back to work. Can I count on you two to take a little bit care of this sh… sillyhead?” he asks, swiftly correcting the blatant ‘shithead’ he was about to say at the last second.

Harry snorts.

“No, it’s fine” Zayn says “I’m sure Harry and Lizzie have their own things to do, I can just…”

“Zee, what are you _saying_?” Lizzie rolls her eyes “Of course we’ll take care of you. We can be your sidekicks!”

Harry laughs. “The boss has spoken” he tells them.

Zayn sighs, and smiles.

Louis gives them another grin, and then pats Zayn on the shoulder, making him rattle and wince in pain, and clearly not giving a shit as he laughs and says bye to Lizzie and Harry before leaving them with Zayn.

“I’m sorry, he’s… a lot” Zayn says fondly, when Louis is gone.

Harry chuckles. “He seems like a good egg”

“He is. He’s a good friend and an even better father” Zayn replies, slowly standing up from his crouched position in front of Lizzie, and wincing again. Harry rushes to help him up, a bit afraid Zayn is gonna refuse his help as well.

But Zayn doesn’t, and he even leans a bit on Harry as they make their way across the small porch. “Liz?” Zayn says with a strain in his voice “I have my keys in the pocket of my jacket, could you please take them? I can’t reach them with the arm sling”

Lizzie nods and slowly opens the zipper of Zayn’s jacket pocket, retrieving the keys while trying to jostle Zayn as little as she can. She hums victoriously when she finally extracts the keys.

Zayn smiles. “Thanks” he says. He takes the keys from Lizzie and opens the door, letting Harry and Lizzie in first, and following them.

The structure of Zayn’s house is the same as Harry’s, like probably all the houses in the street, since they all look identical from the outside too. The entrance and the living room where Zayn guides them, though, look very _lived_ , like Zayn has been in that house for quite some time, taking care of filling it with _homey_ things, like pictures and drawings on the walls, a piece of furniture which holds the TV and has shelves on the bottom for an X-Box and all the remote controls. The walls are a delicate grey, and so is the couch, and there’s a nice little coffee table on a carpet in front of it.

There’s a couple empty Amazon boxes in a corner, and a small desk is positioned next to a big French door opening onto a small terrace. On the desk, Harry sees a clusterfuck of pens, pencils, sharpies, sheets of paper, and a stack of sketchbooks, one of which is open.

Zayn takes a breath and shrugs his jacket off, setting it on the desk, covering the mess. “Sorry about the mess” he says, and Harry sees him quickly, very quickly, unbuckle the belt with his gun and place the weapon in an automatic drawer in the desk, locking it by pressing a sequence of six digits into a pad.

Harry sighs, because he’s not particularly happy of having Lizzie in a house with a gun, but he also knows what Zayn does for a living, so he can only appreciate Zayn putting the weapon away so quickly and while covering it with his body so that Lizzie wouldn’t see it. She hasn’t, or she would have said something. He smiles at Zayn when Zayn faces them again, scratching the back of his head with his good hand.

Harry chuckles. “No worries” he says, reassuring Zayn even if he hasn’t said anything “Nice table. Very… safe”

Zayn laughs. “Yeah. It’s full of sh… things, though. I, um, I draw. When I have time. Not so much since they made me Inspector”

Zayn sits on the chair by the desk with another wince, and Harry is about to say something, but Lizzie is quicker. “You need to have lunch” she declares “Daddy and I can make you lunch!”

Zayn chuckles. “Only if then you have lunch with me”

Lizzie hums affirmatively. “Daddy’s lunches are the best”

Harry pulls a little at her askew ponytail. “Two days ago my breakfasts were the best”

Lizzie giggles. “People change, Daddy. You can’t expect me to always have the same opinion on stuff. I learn, I grow”

Zayn laughs. Out loud, with a hand on his stomach while he almost bends over. Harry follows him suit, and so does Lizzie. “Oh my God” Zayn wheezes when he’s able to speak again “Where did she even _learn_ to answer like that?”

“Takes her wits from her father, I’m afraid” Harry sighs, still grinning.

Zayn stands up and goes past Harry as he guides them to the kitchen. “You must be really something, then, Harry Styles” he says, and his tone is low, like it’s only meant for Harry to hear.

Harry’s cheeks go absurdly warm as he and Lizzie follow Zayn through a small corridor, and he tries to get himself on check, utterly ashamed that he almost got a boner in front of his daughter just because Zayn whispered something to him while passing him by.

Once they’re in the kitchen, Zayn makes a gesture towards his fridge and cabinet, clearly meaning _do with my food what you will_ , and Harry smiles, taking a look at what Zayn has and deciding to make carbonara. Simple, quick, and good.

Harry takes care of the pancetta, cutting it into small cubes, and when it’s ready to cook he lets Lizzie climb on a chair, with Zayn’s permission, and gives her the task to stir the diced bacon if she’s very careful not to burn herself. Lizzie is always careful when she knows pans are hot, so he’s not worried.

Zayn seems to be the worried one, because he stands right next to Lizzie, leaning his hip into the counter, and carefully watches her.

Lizzie starts to hum an unknown song to herself while Harry dips the spaghetti into the boiling water and then starts whipping the eggs. She takes that from Harry, or at least Harry likes to think so. Harry is always singing to himself while he cooks.

“You like cooking with your Dad, don’t you?” Zayn asks Lizzie with a smile.

Lizzie hums. “Yes, it’s fun. Daddy always makes up songs about me doing stuff. One day he sang a song about me playing in the grass and then running into a puddle and covering myself in mud. I laughed a lot, I laughed so much I cried!” she tells Zayn, her eyes never leaving the pan.

Harry chuckles. “It was a true story, even”

Zayn laughs. “Does your Dad have a good voice?”

“Yes, he’s _sick_ ” Lizzie grins “Maybe if you’re really good Daddy can sing you a goodnight song like he does with me before we go to sleep”

Harry feels his cheeks burn again at the mere thought of falling asleep with Zayn, because Lizzie doesn’t know it’s not something adults just _do_ , and yet she’s saying it like it’s the most normal thing in the world.

Zayn clears his throat. “Yeah, maybe one day” he says, but when Harry turns to look at him, his eyes are concentrated on Lizzie. Harry thinks he sees his cheeks gain colour, though.

“Are you excited for your birthday on Friday?” Zayn keeps talking to Lizzie.

Lizzie giggles. “Yes! I’m so excited, it’s the first time I have an actual party” she says carelessly “My Mum never let me invite my friends for my birthday. She always said there’s no point in celebrating birthdays because the more you have them, the older you get, and it’s just sad. But last year I was with my Daddy because she needed to work and we had a tea party _the whole afternoon_ ”

Harry’s hands tighten on the fork with which he’s whipping the eggs, and the bowl slides a little on the counter before he can regain control enough to grab it. He keeps his eyes on the eggs, hoping with all his heart that Lizzie doesn’t look at him right then, because he’s sure his face is beyond angry. Fucking Angela. How had Harry _not noticed_ that Lizzie was very close to _unhappy_ most of the time, because of her mother? She was always so happy when she was with him, Harry hadn’t even _thought_ there could be problems with her mother. And Lizzie is okay, he knows she is, but what if she’d never called Harry that night? Would he still be oblivious? Would he have left his daughter with a fucking _train-wreck_ without ever knowing what was going on?

He feels a hand slowly stroke his back, and he relaxes even before realizing it’s Zayn. He’s moved to stand in between Lizzie and Harry, with the excuse of checking something in the pot of pasta, and he’s rubbing Harry’s back in circles, like he’s seen Harry being upset and fucking _understood_.

Harry looks at him. They can’t speak, not in front of Lizzie, but Harry needs to thank him for understanding and trying to make it better.

Zayn smiles, and nods.

*

They have lunch with Zayn, and Zayn falls asleep right after, slurring something about the fact that they can stay if they want to because he likes having friends over.

So Harry and Lizzie stay, and take care of being extra quiet as they clean the house a little bit, doing only things that they think Zayn will have trouble doing with only one arm.

When Zayn wakes up, Harry also makes the three of them dinner, and soon after that Lizzie is the one falling asleep, making the situation almost identical to the one of the night before, with only a different house.

“Ah, shit” Harry mutters to himself “Now I’m gonna wake her up to bring her home and she’s gonna be stroppy the whole night”

“Then don’t wake her up, babe, it’s okay” Zayn says quickly “You can just stay here, it’s fine. I have a guest room for the two of you, the bed’s huge”

Harry feels a bit self-conscious, but then the zero will he has to deal with Lizzie’s sleepy strops, together with the fact Zayn is asking him to stay wearing just a thin pair of sweats and a tank top, makes him accept Zayn’s offer.

He slowly takes Lizzie in his arms from the couch, and then follows Zayn upstairs and into his guest room, where there’s indeed a huge bed, with a nightstand on which Zayn flicks a night lamp on. “For Liz” he says, and Harry is about to have a stroke about Zayn fucking Malik being kind to his daughter.

Harry sets Lizzie into bed. Zayn gives him one of his t-shirts to use as a very big pyjamas for Lizzie and then, again, leaves the room when Harry starts undressing the kid. Harry smiles to himself and takes extra care into sliding the t-shirt—it’s a Batman one—on Lizzie, making sure not to wake her. She doesn’t wake up, and then Harry sighs, combing her hair out of her face and leaving her a note using a post-it block and a pen he finds on the night stand. _You’re sleeping at Zee’s, he gave you his pyjamas! I’m downstairs if you wake up and you don’t see me. -Daddy._

Lizzie gets scared when she wakes up alone in rooms she doesn’t recognize, and Harry’s scared too, when his kid is. He leaves the note next to the lamp where Lizzie will see it for sure if she wakes up before Harry joins her in bed, and then he goes out of the room, downstairs, where Zayn is sitting on the couch.

“Thanks for having us” Harry says sitting next to him “You must already be tired of having us around all the fucking time”

Zayn chuckles. “Not at all. Lizzie’s cool. You too” he says “Listen, I, um, there’s something I wanted to run by you”

Harry sees that Zayn’s holding a paper sheet, and frowns. “Okay?”

“You, um, you said you were shit at drawing. And I draw. So I, eh, I made Lizzie an invitation card prototype for her birthday. If you even want my help, that is. I just, I was inspired so I drew it. I thought it would help you. That’s why I covered my desk with my jacket earlier. I was afraid Lizzie would see it before I could talk to you about it”

Harry has to restrain himself from snogging Zayn right there and then, and he hasn’t even _seen_ the card yet. But the mere fact that Zayn took time to do that, thought about helping, thought about _Lizzie_ , is wild enough that Harry feels close to crying. He gulps down and nods. “I, fuck, Zayn, I really appreciate it, you don’t know how much I was losing my sleep on this, I…”

Zayn chuckles. “I think I do. You look like you haven’t slept in ages, babe”

Harry’s cheeks flame. “Heeey” he complains.

Zayn grins, his eyes glinting. “Do you wanna see the card? Maybe it’s shit and you don’t like it”

“I doubt it. But yeah, I wanna see it”

Zayn gives Harry the sheet. When Harry turns it and looks at the drawing, he realizes it’s Lizzie, blonde ponytails and her green dress on, but she’s also Batgirl, because she’s wearing a Bat mask and she has the Batman logo on the front of her dress. Under the cartoon version of Lizzie stand the words _You’re invited to my birthday on Friday!_

There’s a blank space for time and place, and another blank space for the name of the guest.

Harry smiles. “Zayn, it’s… it’s amazing” he says, a bit at a loss “Thank you, I think she’ll fucking love this”

Zayn chuckles. “I hope so. You can, like, scan it and print as many as you want, I won’t arrest you for illicit appropriation”

“Thank you, Zayn” Harry says with a chuckle “That’s very kind of you”

Zayn chuckles too, and leans more into the backrest of the couch, sighing and wincing a little.

“Are the… are the meds helping?” Harry asks, gesturing to Zayn’s arm.

Zayn nods. “Yeah, yeah, they’re making me a bit more eloquent than normal, but I don’t feel much pain at the moment” he says “Did Lizzie really get scared when she saw I was hurt?” he adds, but Harry can see his smile, like he honestly can’t believe Lizzie would care about him so much.

Harry sighs. “Yeah, a bit. She’s, like, she worries a lot about people she cares about. Her first thought was ‘Daddy, what if he lives alone and he needs help?’, even though she could perfectly see you were with Louis”

Zayn huffs a smile. “Well, Louis had to go back to work, so I’m glad you came to my rescue” he says “I was a bit stupid, though. It’s just, I don’t know, I miss the field work since I became Inspector. We’ve only had a couple assaults in the past days, like the man who got stabbed in the leg in a bar fight or the dog being killed. And it’s like, it’s not that I want _worse_ things to happen, but then this morning we got an attempted homicide, and my brain was just like _go go go get back on the field and get your hands on the suspect yourself_. So, like, I went. He tried to escape and I ran after him and I didn’t see the knife _at all_ , I think I’m a bit rusty. So he stabbed me in the arm. I caught him anyway though, and I was right, he _was_ the murderer. Well, almost-murderer. He didn’t actually kill the victim”

Harry half listens and half gets lost in Zayn’s medicated ramble, sure that it’s not like him to speak for so long, but secretly loving that Zayn is opening up so much, even if it’s about his job, because if Harry had his way, Zayn would _never_ stop speaking to him.

“Sorry, I’m rambling” Zayn says, blushing a little.

“I was thoroughly enjoying it, I won’t lie” Harry says honestly.

Zayn chuckles. “Are you… are you okay? I saw you in the kitchen earlier today, when Lizzie said that thing about her mother. You were very upset”

Harry nods. “Yeah, sorry about that. It’s just, I feel like shit for not noticing how bad things were going” he confesses, a bit surprised just by how much he feels at ease talking to Zayn, considering that he’s only known the lad for a couple of days.

Harry keeps speaking. He tells Zayn everything that upsets him about Angela and how she treated Lizzie, how scared he is that he’s gonna fail his daughter just the same, even if he’s trying so hard to be a good father and to be enough.

Zayn also listens, his eyes open and vigilant and glued to Harry as Harry rambles on his own. He’s not sure he’s making that much sense, but Zayn keeps listening until Harry’s done.

“Haz, babe?” he says at last, shifting his weight on the couch so that he can sit up straight and get closer to Harry “I think you’re an amazing father, and I say so for certain, even if I’ve known you for two days. Because you _care_ about your daughter, you’d fucking die for her, and I think even people who don’t know you _at all_ can see it. It takes time to get adjusted to new rhythms, I know, but you will manage. And Lizzie loves the shit out of you. It’s like she can’t say more than three sentences without saying ‘My Daddy’. It’s endearing and obvious, how much she loves being here with you, and next time you feel like you’re not doing enough, just think about that, and you’re gonna be peachy”

Harry gapes a little. It’s not like he doesn’t know Lizzie loves him. He’s sure she does. But having someone else tell him, someone who doesn’t know them that well, has a whole other kind of importance for Harry.

He briefly wonders where Zayn has been all this time, when Harry has tried to go out with people only for them to tell him that they wanted him, but not a kid as well, as if they thought it would be perfectly normal to ask Harry to please not bring his left arm into their lives. Because he’s starting to think Zayn wouldn’t mind Lizzie, or better, that Zayn would accept Lizzie into his life just as he would accept Harry, if even Zayn wants Harry, that is.

Harry hasn’t got time to do much else, because a moment later Zayn is getting closer and closer, and then their faces are getting closer and closer, with Zayn still staring at Harry with a tentative smile, like he’s waiting to see if Harry will push him away.

Harry is not mental, thank you very much, so of course he doesn’t push Zayn away.

He closes the remaining distance between them, and they kiss, and Harry hasn’t kissed anyone in a long, absurdly long time, but it’s like Zayn knows it and takes extra care of making it good and slow. Their lips collide, one of Zayn’s hands cupping the right side of Harry’s face, and then Harry’s sighing and opening his mouth for Zayn. Zayn sighs too, pushing his tongue past Harry’s lips, to lick at the roof of his mouth, to slide it against Harry’s own tongue, and Zayn tastes like mint and cigarettes, and Harry fucking loves it.

Their hands roam a bit on each other’s chest and sides, until Zayn’s good hand is on Harry’s face again, and the kiss ends when they need air.

Zayn licks his lips, like he’s tasting the remnants of Harry’s kiss on them, and then sighs a smile, leaning his forehead against Harry’s. Zayn’s eyelashes are so long that they get caught in Harry’s, to which both chuckle. “I’m gonna let you go just because your kid is asleep upstairs, Harry” Zayn whispers “I won’t fuck you like I really, _really_ want to, because my walls are very thin, and I don’t wanna wake Lizzie up and traumatise her for life”

They both chuckle at that. “Thanks for being so considerate” Harry replies, his lips brushing Zayn’s every time they move “But just so you know. If we were at my place, where the walls are thicker. I’d let you fuck me. For a long time”

Zayn sighs heavily, his eyes rolling a bit in his head and his hand grabbing Harry’s face harder. “Good” Zayn murmurs, growls a little.

Harry’s painfully hard in the sweats Zayn lent him already, like a teenager, and a quick glance tells him Zayn is not better off. “Now you need to go so that I can keep my good resolution for tonight” Zayn says.

Harry kisses him again. Zayn groans a little, and Harry grins to himself as he slowly pushes Zayn to make his back lean into the backrest of the couch while they keep kissing. Harry straddles Zayn, being careful with his injured arm, and Zayn looks up at him like he’s made of gold or something, for how he’s gaping.

Harry kisses Zayn a third time, bucking his hips a little, and the friction between their hard dicks is so good, so torturously good, that it takes all Harry’s willpower not to just slide down the couch and wrap his mouth around Zayn’s cock. “Goodnight, then?” Harry asks.

Zayn is panting. “Goodnight. You’re a little shit”

Harry chuckles. “You have no idea” he tells Zayn with another grin, kisses him again, and then finally stands up on unsteady legs to go away before they both lose it too much.

*

When Zayn wakes up, with pain shooting up his arm, the first thing he hears is quiet whispers and giggles coming from his kitchen downstairs.

It takes him a moment to piece everything back together. Being stabbed, Harry and Lizzie staying at his place to help him, kissing Harry on the couch.

Zayn can’t suppress a giggle of his own at the thought. Harry’s lips and tongue tasted like fucking heaven, and it wasn’t just the haze of the meds, it was the real deal, the sparks and fireworks and the promise of _more to come_.

Zayn stands up, makes a detour to the bathroom and almost rolls his eyes at himself for how dumbly he’s grinning in the mirror. He doesn’t exactly know how Harry and Lizzie managed to crawl in his life so suddenly, without him opposing the slightest resistance, but there you have it, because Zayn didn’t even _try_ to resist. He knows it’s not like him, and he knows that it’s not gonna be easy, because Harry has a kid, _a fucking kid_ , but it’s not like Zayn can do anything about what he feels. He likes Harry, very much so, and he likes his kid as well. So he’ll give this whole thing a try, if Harry still wants to, that is.

When he gets in the kitchen, Harry and Lizzie have set up a breakfast worthy of a five-star hotel. There’s everything, from yoghurt and cereal and milk and toast to eggs and bacon, and Zayn doubts they’ll manage to eat everything by themselves, but he appreciates the try.

He also appreciates the expectant grins and smiles with which he’s greeted. And the dimples. A fuckton of dimples.

It’s so… _sappy_ , the situation he’s in right now. But he would have to be mental not to like it.

“Oh, wow” he chuckles “Thank you, everything smells so good, I’m starving”

Lizzie giggles and she and Harry high-five while Zayn sits at the table with them. Harry smiles at him, and Zayn would very much like to snog him all over again, but he of course doesn’t.

One thing is making it clear to Harry that he likes him, and letting him know he wants both him and his kid, because they come together. But making it _official_ in front of the kid is another deal entirely. That has to come with time and patience and calm, because the kid went through a great change in her life already, and it’s just not right to force _this_ on her as well.

Especially since Zayn and Harry haven’t even actually talked about what _this_ is.

Harry must understand what Zayn’s thinking, or just shares the same opinion, because he keeps smiling and he discreetly strokes Zayn’s knee under the table. Zayn grabs his hand and entwines their fingers for a moment, to let Harry know _I’m still here now that tiredness and painkiller haze are gone_ , and that’s it.

Lizzie smiles at Zayn and opens her arms widely. “Thanks for lending me the pyjama, Zee” she says “I _love_ it”

Zayn chuckles and stares at his black t-shirt with the Batman logo, so fucking big on Lizzie that it covers her from neck to way past her knees, and the short sleeves almost reach her wrists. “It’s yours, then”

Lizzie gapes. “What?”

“The t-shirt. If you like it, then it’s yours” Zayn grins.

Lizzie smiles so brightly Zayn thinks he’s been blinded for a moment. “Thank you!” she squeals “Daddy! Zee gave me his t-shirt!” she then adds for Harry, as if Harry hadn’t been right there for their exchange.

Harry chuckles. “That’s very kind of him” he says seriously “Thank you, Zayn, for this priceless gift”

Zayn snorts, and kicks him under the table. “Shut up. You just don’t understand the value of Batman”

Lizzie hums affirmatively. “It’s true. You just don’t understand the value of Batman”

Harry sighs dramatically. “It’s two of them” he stage-whispers to himself.

Lizzie prances away after she’s done eating because she says she wants to make the huge bed all by herself, and Zayn waits until he hears her tiny stomps on the stairs before turning to Harry and smirking. “Good morning” he just says.

Harry licks his lips. “Good morning. Did you… did you sleep well?”

“It was hard to will away the boner you left me with” Zayn retorts.

Harry goes a lovely red, and clears his throat. “Yeah. For me too. On hindsight, being considerate of my daughter was a horrible idea”

Zayn laughs, and inches closer to Harry, sending another glance to the door of the kitchen to make sure Lizzie is still away. Harry does the same, and then closes the distance between them, and kisses Zayn, slow and with intent, his hands grabbing Zayn by the shoulders. “Good morning” Harry says again, on Zayn’s lips.

Zayn chuckles. “Good morning, babe” he repeats “Do you wanna go out with me?”

Well, he didn’t exactly _plan_ on saying that. It just kinda came out, but now that it’s been said, Zayn realizes that’s exactly what he wants, to take Harry out properly.

Harry is a bit astounded at first, but then he smiles and nods, kissing Zayn again while he answers. “Yes. Yes I do, very much. Tomorrow after Lizzie’s birthday party. Liam is gonna come. I’ll ask him to stay with her for the night”

Zayn feels worry creep up his spine at Harry’s words, because _no_ , he didn’t ask Harry to go out because he wants him to leave Lizzie behind, and what if Harry took it that way and he’s saying yes but he’s already regretting it, what if he thinks Zayn doesn’t want Lizzie?

Zayn has never overthought stuff, but apparently, he does with Harry. He shakes his head. “No” he says as firmly as he can “I won’t have you leave your daughter at home on the night of her fucking birthday, Harry”

Harry stops kissing Zayn and looks at him for a moment, with something that looks a bit too much like fondness in his eyes, and then huffs a laugh. “I meant we can go out after she’s asleep” he specifies “And Liam can stay with her. We’re in our early thirties, Zayn, we can manage to go out after eleven p.m., can’t we? Maybe even a bit earlier than that, if she’s tired after the party and just goes out cold when it’s done”

“Didn’t take you for an evil mastermind, Harry Styles” Zayn grins.

Harry kisses him again. “I am gonna do whatever I can to keep you, now that you’ve been crazy enough to actually _want_ me”

Zayn’s heart tightens a little at the thought that Harry would actually think Zayn couldn’t want him, and he solves it by just kissing Harry one more time.

*

The next day, Zayn goes back to work, waving at Lizzie from Louis’s car when he sees her at the window. She screams “Good morning Zee!” at him and probably wakes up half of the neighbourhood. Zayn laughs when he hears Harry from inside the house, shouting “Elizabeth Astrid Styles, it’s _seven in the morning_ ”.

Lizzie winces and waves at Zayn one last time before retreating her head from the window.

“So you have a kid now” Louis comments as he drives to the precinct.

Zayn sobers up from his laughter, and forces himself to be serious. “No. Harry has a kid” he just says.

Louis hums. “Might as well be your kid for how much you’re already involved with the two of them”

Zayn rolls his eyes, but he understands Louis’s concern, because it would have been his own if the roles were swapped, and it kinda is his own concern even now.

“Listen, Lou, I know it’s soon” he says with a sigh “But I think I really like Harry. And Lizzie… Lizzie is a good kid. I know what you always say, about random people breaking Freddie’s heart, but I don’t wanna think I’m just random, because Harry is not random to me. I don’t know how to say it. It’s just… I wanna give this a try. And it’s not _despite_ the kid. It’s _with_ the kid as well, because I have a feeling Harry wouldn’t be the way he is, without Lizzie. And I like the way he is”

Louis doesn’t answer. But he smiles, a small, understanding smile that tells Zayn _I perfectly know what you mean_.

“Now before we go to the precinct” Zayn says with a grin “Stop at the cinema for a second. I got a present I need to buy for my maybe-boyfriend’s kid”

*

Zayn almost splits his head open on Harry’s stairs for how fast he’s running. It’s six and he’s late, almost an hour late, and even though he sent Harry a text to tell him he got caught up at work, he doesn’t want to disappoint Lizzie. He rings the bell, hearing shouts and screams and giggles from inside, and he has barely the time to think _Good, her classmates came to the party_ before Harry opens the door.

“Sorry” Zayn pants “Sorry I’m so late”

Harry chuckles. “It’s okay. I told her, she understands”

“Is she mad? I don’t want her to be mad, I’m shit with kids being mad at me” Zayn stutters, going inside when Harry lets him in.

The entrance of the house is dark, and Harry doesn’t give him time to even remove his coat before pulling Zayn by said coat and kissing him, shoving his tongue inside Zayn’s mouth with a sigh. “She’s not mad” he says “But I appreciate you taking this very seriously”

Zayn’s brains are a bit scrambled by the running and the snogging, so he stumbles a little when Harry lets him go. Harry steadies him, helps him take off his coat while being very considerate of his arm still in the sling. Zayn takes the envelope with the red ribbon around it from the inside pocket of his coat, and then follows Harry towards the living room.

There’s a total of ten kids plus Lizzie, laughing and playing some sort of game with a man that Zayn knows is Liam from the pictures he’s seen. Liam looks perfectly at ease sitting on the carpet and surrounded by an army of screaming six-year-olds. Zayn spots Lizzie immediately, her hair tied in a very fancy braid and a purple dress on. She looks so fucking happy Zayn almost doesn’t wanna disturb her by letting her know he’s arrived, but Lizzie sees him first, and her smile grows even bigger.

“Zee!” she shouts, running towards him “You made it!”

Zayn smiles, and _how could I ever not want this little thing around_ is the only thing he’s thinking, and if it’s weird to have grown so affectionate of a kid in such a short time, then he’s weird, and he doesn’t want to have it any other way.

He kneels in front of Lizzie, and opens his good arm for her to hug him. “Happy birthday, Liz” he says “I’m so sorry I’m late, I swear I ran so fast I flew”

Lizzie giggles. “Of course you flew, you’re a superhero, remember?” she says, and winks “Did you see? Uncle Liam taught me to wink!”

Zayn chuckles. “Uncle Liam must be a Wink Wizard then”

Lizzie nods with another giggle. Zayn hands her the envelope, perfectly conscious of Harry and Liam staring at the two of them, and kinda wishing they were at least trying to hide it.

Lizzie laughs in anticipation and opens the envelope very carefully, trying not to break it.

Zayn looks at her go over the two tickets in the letter, sees her struggle to read the words and spelling them out loud until the realization hits her. “WHAT?” she screams “You bought me the _Lion King_?”

Zayn laughs. “Well, I didn’t buy you the actual _lions_ ” he specifies “I just bought you and your Daddy a ticket for the premiere tomorrow afternoon”

Zayn hears Harry sigh, but he keeps his eyes on Lizzie. Lizzie is still slowly processing that it’s actually happening, she’s going to fucking see the movie she waited for so long for, and then she laughs and hugs Zayn again, showering him in _thank you Zee_ s. Zayn hears Liam whisper “He’s a good one” to Harry, but ignores it, because he’s too busy riding the high of having made a six-year-old extremely happy.

Lizzie suddenly gasps. “It’s two tickets” she says.

Zayn frowns. “Yeah, for you and your Daddy”

“What about _you_ , Zee?” Lizzie frowns too.

Zayn doesn’t know what to say. He knows how much Lizzie wanted Harry to bring her to the cinema, but the thought that she’d want _Zayn_ to go as well never crossed his mind.

Lizzie sighs. “You don’t wanna come with us?”

Zayn looks at Harry, silently asking him what to do. Is it even alright, to just intrude in their movie night like that? Zayn is shit at this, he doesn’t know where the lines stand if Harry, Lizzie’s father, doesn’t draw them.

Harry just smiles and nods.

Zayn faces Lizzie again. “Of course I wanna come. Tell you what, I’ll buy myself a ticket too, and I’ll come”

Lizzie is still frowning. “Can you do it now? What if they run out?”

She’s technically right, because it’s still a premiere, so there is a chance the tickets are gonna go. Zayn sits on the floor, with Lizzie doing the same, and he vaguely hears Liam resuming the game with the other kids while Zayn looks for the movie theatre website on his phone and checks the ticket sale section. Lizzie peeks at Zayn’s phone the whole time, and Zayn heaves a sigh of relief—why was he even _nervous_?—when he sees there are still tickets available.

He buys another one, selecting a spot right next to Harry and Lizzie’s which is luckily still available too, and when it’s done, he sighs. “Done” he tells Lizzie.

Lizzie sighs too, bringing a hand to her chest. “Okay. Next time, please don’t forget yourself, Zee” she says arching an eyebrow, which makes her look like the exact replica of her father.

After that, Lizzie joins the other kids again, and Zayn stands up, suddenly remembering there are _adult_ things he should be doing, like introducing himself to Harry’s friend. “Hi” he tells Liam, shaking his hand “Zayn Malik, nice to meet you”

Liam smiles. “Liam Payne. I’m Harry’s best friend and the birthday girl’s completely non-biological uncle. And that little tornado over there is my son, Bear, Lizzie’s favourite doll” Liam says, pointing at a kid, probably five or barely so, with a head of chocolate curls and the most high-pitched screams Zayn’s ever heard in his life. Lizzie is laughing while she rolls gift-wrapping paper around Bear’s body like a dress, and Bear is laughing even harder, letting Lizzie do whatever she pleases.

Liam resumes his game with the kids again after that, and Zayn sits next to Harry on the couch. “Next time, please don’t forget yourself” Harry whispers to him with a grin.

Zayn chuckles. “I… I didn’t wanna intrude like that”

Harry shakes his head. “You’re not intruding. Lizzie loves the shit out of you. Liam’s jealous” he chuckles “No, just joking. I think he’s happy. He’s a bit bummed that we moved and he can’t be with us at all times as usual. I mean, Leeds is not that far away, I still work there, but… it’s still like an hour with the car. And he has a kid of his own, so”

Zayn nods. “I’ll make sure to tell him I’ll try to take good care of Lizzie when he’s not here. And of you”

Harry smiles. Zayn would very much like to kiss him, but again, he can’t right now. So they keep staring at each other, and they only stop when Lizzie screams in victory. Zayn looks at her, laughing when he sees her climb Liam like a tree, and Liam is holding her with a bright smile of his own.

Zayn thinks that maybe he’s not the only one who has fallen in love with Lizzie. Maybe she’s just _that_ easy to fall in love with.

During a second weird game with Liam which the kids thoroughly enjoy, someone knocks on the door.

Harry stands up with a sigh. “It’s probably Kevin’s Mum” he points at a kid with his head “She said she was gonna pick him up early, I think she doesn’t trust single Dads or something”

Zayn chuckles, and before he can decide, he’s following Harry to the door. Harry flicks the light switch in the entrance and opens the door, but nobody’s there. Zayn frowns.

Harry rolls his eyes. “It’s probably just some kids being funny” he says “It’s like the let…” he steps on something just on the doorstep, and Zayn follows his gaze. It’s a letter.

Harry sighs. “Fucking hell, again?” he says, picking up the letter. Zayn sees the envelope is completely blank.

“Again what, babe?” he asks.

Harry shakes his head. “I’ve received a couple of creepy drawings. I’m sure it’s nothing. I have another letter right here, I didn’t even open it” he says, picking up another blank envelope from the small counter by the door, where he keeps a bowl with keys in it.

Zayn doesn’t like that whole deal, not even a little. “What do you mean, creepy drawings?”

Harry starts to open the two envelopes. “I’ll show you, look, it’s…”

There aren’t any drawings in the two letters. It’s two pictures, and although Zayn can’t see them, he knows it must be something bad, because Harry suddenly goes very pale, his hands shaking wildly.

Zayn takes a couple steps towards him, his guts going into turmoil at the actual _fear_ he can read on Harry’s face. “Haz? What’s wrong?”

Harry doesn’t reply. He’s staring at the pictures, his hands shaking harder and harder, and when Zayn sees the pics, he understands why.

They’re two pictures of Lizzie.

In one of them, she’s smiling and playing in the playground inside her school, Zayn recognizes the setting.

In the other, she’s sleeping in her bed, and it looks like the picture has been taken from outside her window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am writing like a mad-woman, as you can probably notice.  
> Let me know what you're thinking :)  
> I am also on Tumblr as wont-you-stay-till-the-am.tumblr.com, come hit me up if you wanna talk.


	3. Are you scared, Daddy?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zayn wonders if that’s what it feels like, having a child. If it’s always smiling when they’re happy, worrying when they’re in danger, and generally not having eyes for anybody else. Then he scolds himself, because Lizzie is not _his_ child. She’s _Harry’s_ , and that’s how it should be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Usual disclaimer: I don't know or own any of the characters present in this work. I only own the plot and the original characters.

Zayn thinks Harry is on the verge of a panic attack, and he honestly can’t blame him. The pictures he’s received are about Lizzie, _his fucking daughter_ , taken in places she should be _safe_ in.

_Her bed her fucking bed fuck fuck fuck_ , Zayn thinks with a shiver of fear and anger.

And it’s not even _his_ daughter, it’s _Harry’s_. Zayn cannot even fathom what Harry must be feeling.

As it is, though, there’s a group of eleven kids in the living room, and Zayn has to make sure Harry doesn’t have a meltdown in front of them. In front of _Lizzie_.

“Haz” Zayn says quickly, grabbing him by one shoulder and taking the pictures from his hands so that he will finally stop looking at them. “Haz, babe, please, you gotta breathe”

“My daughter” Harry mutters, still violently shaking and with his eyes shot open “My daughter, my daughter”

Zayn nods. “Yes, Harry, your daughter. She’s here, she’s safe, okay? You have to breathe, babe, yeah? I’m here, I’ll keep you both safe if it’s the last thing I do” he assures Harry, and he means it, he fucking _means it_ “But you have to calm down for now. You don’t wanna scare your child, do you?”

Harry shakes his head. “No. No, she was scared all the time with Angela, I don’t want her to be scared with _me_ ”

“Yes” Zayn nods “So please, hold it the fuck together, yeah? I’ll think about something. But we’re gonna do it _later_ , when the kids are gone and Lizzie is asleep, okay?”

Harry nods frantically, his curls bouncing in all directions. “Yes. Yes. I’ll keep it together, I’ll keep her safe, it was _her bed_ , Zayn, oh my God, they were so _close_ to her, even at school, what…”

“Harry!” Zayn hisses, shaking him by the shoulder he’s still holding “Harry, _breathe_ ” he adds, trying to muster a calm he doesn’t have, because Harry’s fucking _right_ , someone was right outside Lizzie’s window taking fucking _pictures_ of her, and Zayn hopes for them he never gets his hands on them, or he won’t be able to answer for what he’ll do.

Harry takes a shaky breath, and nods again, finally getting his breath under control.

“Alright?” Zayn whispers.

Harry nods one more time. But it’s not alright, isn’t it, nothing is alright.

Zayn gently directs Harry to the living room, and he has to give it to Harry, that his daughter really comes first, because as soon as she looks at them, Harry smiles and laughs and looks like his best self, even though Zayn knows he must be dying inside right now.

Liam, to his credit, must know Harry really really well, because he frowns. “Haz? You good?”

Harry nods furiously. “Yes, yes, I’m great, Leeyum”

Liam doesn’t believe him, but he’s also a father, so he understands it’s probably something Harry can’t discuss in front of his daughter. So Liam nods, and mouths “ _Later_ ” at Harry. Harry nods again.

The rest of the party goes in a blur. Harry takes out a big birthday cake for Lizzie from the fridge, and Zayn sees his fake smile collapse and go away as soon as they’re alone in the kitchen, only for it to come back and plaster itself to Harry’s face when they go back to the living room.

They sing _Happy Birthday_ to Lizzie. Harry tries to take pictures of her, but his hands shake so bad that Zayn and Liam exchange a glance, and Liam takes over the job from him. He looks like a deer caught in headlights.

Lizzie laughs and makes a silent wish with a giggle, blowing on the candles. Zayn swears to himself that whoever it is that’s playing that prank on Harry, and whatever the motives, he’ll fucking catch them and make sure they regret even _looking_ at Lizzie Styles.

Parents start coming to pick up their children around seven, and by eight, the only people left in the house are Zayn, Harry, Liam, Lizzie and Bear.

Liam looks like he’s worrying sick for Harry, and he’s right to do so. Harry looks at him, and then smiles at Lizzie. “Pumpkin? Why don’t you show Bear your new room? With all the worrying about the party we forgot to give him a tour of the house”

Lizzie gasps and nods. “You’re right, Daddy! I’m so stupid! Come, B, my room is _sick_! My Daddy made it for me!” she exclaims, taking Bear by the hand and heading for the stairs. Zayn, despite it all, smiles when he sees that Lizzie, no matter her excitement and the probable huge amount of sugar she’s ingested, is still very careful of her little friend when they start climbing the steps.

When they’ve disappeared upstairs, Harry’s fake smile slides off his face again.

“Harry, what’s wrong?” Liam asks, frowning.

Zayn doesn’t speak as Harry tells Liam what he just got in his mail. Liam’s face goes a horrible white when he sees the pictures Harry shows him, and his legs tremble a little. He sits down. “Fuck” he mutters, and then looks at Zayn “You’re a cop, right? Can you… can you do something?”

“I’ll do whatever I can to find this person” Zayn assures “They… they could just be trying to scare you for some reason. But we can’t be sure until we find them. And we will, Harry” he turns to look at him in the eyes “ _I_ will” he amends, trying to charge the word with everything he has.

_I’ll make this my personal fucking mission._

_I’ll keep your daughter safe._

_You don’t need to worry because I’m gonna be here._

Harry doesn’t reply, but he smiles, a very weak smile, but finally sincere. Zayn will make it do, for now.

“First of all, we need to go to the precinct and you need to officially report this” Zayn says, doing his best to go into Inspector Malik mode “So that I can open an official investigation. I’ll take care of this with my own hands, Harry. And I can promise you I’ll bite the head off anyone who will dare say that I’m too involved and it’s a conflict of interest”

Liam chuckles. “I didn’t think you’d be so fucking scary in your cop mode”

Harry chuckles a little, too. “And sexy” he murmurs, before his face gets serious again and he looks at Liam. “Leeyum? Zayn is right, I gotta go to the police. Can you, like, can you stay here once Lizzie is asleep?”

Liam nods. “Of course, Haz. Bear and I will stay here. Lizzie’s safe with me, I promise”

Harry sighs, and nods too. A moment later, Zayn hears the noises of Lizzie and Bear coming down, and Harry quickly stuffs the pictures in his pocket, to hide them from the kids.

Lizzie and Bear are both yawning. “Daddy?” she slurs “I’m tired, I ate a lot. Can we go to sleep, please?”

Bear yawns again. “Me too, Papa” he tells Liam.

Harry chuckles. “Of course, butterfly” he says, standing up and turning to look at Zayn “I’ll be right back”

Zayn tries to smile his best reassuring smile, and watches Harry and Liam take their kids upstairs.

He doesn’t know what to do when everybody’s gone, so he resorts to fixing the room a little bit, taking the dirty dishes to the kitchen and lining them up in the dishwasher, scrubbing Harry’s brand new table to get rid of any trace of food stuck to it (Harry finally managed to put together his living room, and now everything looks new and lovely), swiping the floor with a broom he finds in the entrance corridor.

He’s done when Liam shows up again. “Sorry, I meant to help, but Bear always takes a while to fall asleep when he’s not in his bed” he tells Zayn.

Zayn shrugs. “It’s okay, don’t worry. I need something to do anyway”

Liam sighs and scratches his head. “Can you… go check up on Harry? Lizzie’s asleep, but he doesn’t look like he’ll manage to leave her alone in her room any time soon. You might be able to convince him”

Zayn nods and silently goes up the stairs until he gets to the doorstep of Lizzie’s room. The kid is indeed asleep, and Harry is sitting in a chair by her desk, staring at her with a thousand emotions mixing on his face.

“Haz?” Zayn whispers.

Harry raises his head. “Sorry” he whispers back “I can’t leave her here by herself, Zayn. I can’t”

Zayn takes a step inside the room, and joins him at Lizzie’s desk. “It’s okay, babe. She’s not alone, Liam’s gonna be here. And for all we know, this might be nothing. Just a disgusting prank”

“What if it isn’t? What if someone’s outside her window _right now_?” Harry asks, his green eyes full of tears.

Zayn understands Harry’s concern, and he knows it must be ten times more horrible than what Zayn himself is feeling. So Zayn does the only thing he knows how to do, and acts as a cop would.

He goes by Lizzie’s window, scanning the area outside. Nothing moves. Then, he closes the window and lowers the blinds, shutting them tightly. “The blinds stay closed at all times for now, yeah?” he tells Harry “This way, even if someone should be outside, they won’t be able to even see her shadow” he joins Harry again “She’s safe here with you, Harry. And she’s safe with _me_ ”

Harry nods, and stands up. “Thanks, Zayn. I’m sorry I’m freaking out”

“You’re honestly handling it better than I would, in your shoes” Zayn replies sincerely “Let’s go to the precinct now, yeah?”

Harry nods. He takes one last, long glance at his daughter, and then follows Zayn out of the room.

*

They don’t speak much while Harry drives them to the precinct, since Zayn is still not allowed to drive, with his arm in the sling. Harry’s hands are tight on the wheel, and Zayn is holding the folder with the drawings and the pictures Harry received in his mail. It feels like it’s about to burn his hand.

Zayn has to take some deep breaths to calm down, because every time he stops to think about what is happening, he’s angrier and angrier about someone _daring_ to threaten Harry and Lizzie. He’d be upset if any child that young was involved, but this is _Lizzie_. She’s _Harry’s daughter_ , and Zayn has now come to terms with the fact that it feels too much like those two have become part of his own family as well.

“We should have been on our way for our date by now” Harry murmurs after a while, his eyes on the road and his jaw tightened.

Zayn sighs. “It’s alright, babe. I promise you that I’ll remind you of our date once this whole shitshow is over” he smiles as best as he can.

Harry nods. “I hope it’s soon” he says “I’ll hold you to that promise”

Zayn smiles some more. “I’ll be here to keep it” he assures “Louis and Niall have a night shift today. I’ll put them on your case straight away. They’re the best detectives in my precinct. After me, that is”

Harry chuckles. “Bit pretentious. But again, I doubt they made you an Inspector just ‘cause your perfect cheekbones would look good in a press conference”

“Yeah. Also ‘cause my cheekbones might be good with the press, but the rest of me is shit at it. The camera doesn’t particularly love me”

“Then the camera’s stupid” Harry declares in a sombre tone, never taking his eyes off the road.

They finally get to the precinct, where Zayn opens the door for Harry to let him in, and Harry steps inside looking around. There’s not that many officers around at the moment, because most of them are patrolling the streets, but Zayn immediately spots Louis and Niall at Louis’s desk, steaming coffee cups in hand, and frowning when they see Zayn crossing the bullpen with Harry on tow.

“Zed?” Louis says tentatively “Something happen?”

Zayn nods. “Yes. Harry needs to report something. My office, right now, both of you” he replies urgently.

Niall and Louis follow him without questioning it, because they’ve been friends for years, and they’ve learned to recognize the urgency in Zayn’s tone as something really bad. Harry, true to himself and to the politeness he taught his daughter as well, introduces himself to Niall while they walk along the corridor leading to Zayn’s office.

“I’m Harry Styles” Harry says.

Niall shakes his hand. “Niall. Niall Horan. Zayn speaks about you and your daughter a lot. How was her birthday? All good?”

Harry sighs. “Yeah, thanks. Except for these” he replies, making a gesture with the folder he’s holding.

Niall doesn’t reply, but Zayn sees him frown, a reflex of the evident worry he can see in Harry’s eyes.

Zayn opens his office with the key, and then holds the door open for the rest of them, waiting for them to be inside the room and then closing the door behind himself.

Louis gently makes Harry take a seat, and Zayn could—should—sit in front of him on the other side of the desk, but instead he sends protocol to fuck itself and sits in the other chair, right next to Harry.

Louis sighs and takes his place in Zayn’s chair, getting the laptop going while Niall drags another chair from the opposite side of the room and settles next to Louis.

“Harry” Zayn says slowly “Now I need you to tell me, Louis and Niall everything. From the start, from the first letter you received. Any detail might be important, even the ones you don’t think matter, okay?”

Harry nods. “I moved in my new apartment in front of yours on January 3rd. I’d just gotten full custody for Lizzie. She was at Liam’s for a couple days, until I fixed the house a little bit. I received the first letter on January 7th. Lizzie… Lizzie moved in with me that very day, only the letter came in the morning and she arrived with Liam in the afternoon” Harry closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, clutching his hands together to stop them from shaking. Zayn desperately wants to gently grab his hands, but he doesn’t, because he needs to focus on what Harry is saying, and not what he feels for him now. “It was completely blank, anonymous, and this was the only thing I found in the envelope” Harry keeps speaking, sliding one sheet of paper out of the folder.

They look at it, and Zayn sees a drawing, a quite good one at that, of a man with a wound on his leg, from which red blood is pouring.

Nobody replies, and Harry takes another breath before resuming his tale while Louis furiously types on the laptop, taking note of everything. “I received a second drawing the day you made friends with Lizzie, January 13th” Harry takes out another drawing.

Zayn’s stomach does a flip when he sees the drawing depicts three kids crying next to the body of a maimed dog. Its head is severed, and his stomach is open, with its guts spilling out.

“Fuck” Louis is the first to speak.

Harry nods. “Yeah, I know, it’s disgusting”

“No no no” Louis shakes his head and looks at Zayn.

They’ve both recognized what that is, and from a quick glance at Niall, Zayn gathers that Niall has also understood. “It’s the Evans’ dog” he says.

Harry frowns. “What?”

It’s true. The man with his leg hurt, the maimed dog. They’re both things that have _happened_ , in the past week, Zayn thinks frantically, his brain whirring and trying to piece everything together, only failing.

Louis pulls up the records of the two assaults, and then speaks again, very carefully, looking at Harry. “Harry, these two drawings are two cases that we handled here at the precinct this week. A man called Jonathan Reese was in a bar fight and they called us after he got stabbed in the leg by someone we weren’t able to identify. And the three Evans kids had lost their dog and reported it missing, only for us to find its body dismembered in a ditch”

Harry’s face is absurdly pale while he listens to Louis. “When did it happen? Before or after I got the drawings?”

“After” Niall says “Reese got stabbed on January 8th. And the dog was found two days ago, the morning Zayn got hurt. Both assaults happened the day after you received the drawing about them”

Harry doesn’t reply. He just looks at Zayn with a set of scared eyes, and Zayn hates the fear he can see there, because he doesn’t fucking know how to get rid of it. “Harry” he says slowly “Harry, we have to consider the hypothesis that these were not just assaults, but that the person committed them in order to catch your attention with the drawings, to make sure you knew they’re serious once you made the connection”

He shouldn’t be speaking to Harry about the case in such a detail. Harry is a victim. Zayn is the Inspector. And yet, how is he supposed to look at Harry in the eyes and not tell him that he knows what he’s doing, that he’s gonna do _something_ about it?

Niall sighs. “We also have to consider the hypothesis that they did this because they knew you live right next to Zayn, so you would know about the assaults in the first place”

“I didn’t even _know_ Zayn when I received the first letter! I mean, we were already neighbours, yes, but I hadn’t even spoken to him yet!” Harry exclaims “And anyway, I’m sorry about the man and the dog, but the assaults are not the point. The point is that I also received two more letters, one on the 14th and the other right the fuck now, and they’re not drawings, they’re pictures of my fucking child” he adds, taking the pictures and setting them on the table.

If Louis and Niall were worried about the drawings, their faces go blank and pale when they see Lizzie’s pictures.

Louis in particular looks like a statue as he examines them, and reads between the lines. “Places she should be safe in” he says in a low tone “The school, her bed. This is more personal than we thought, Zayn. This is about the child, not about you and Harry”

“Harry” Niall says gently “Is there, like, anyone who would have a grudge against you? Maybe someone you came across while working, or…”

Harry chuckles bitterly. “I take kids away from their parents as a living, Niall. I’m pretty sure half the Leeds population holds a grudge against me”

“Aren’t there any anonymity measures for your job?” Zayn almost shrieks.

Harry shakes his head. “I’m the person who shows up unannounced and inspects the houses, Zayn. My face and name is the first thing they see. But they can’t know where I live, there’s no way they could find me. My info is safe at my workplace, and fucking hell, I’m not even on Facebook”

Zayn nods. “Okay. Okay, we’ll figure this out anyway” he looks at Niall and Louis “Send the pics and the drawings to the lab, okay? See if they find any fingerprints. I want you to open a case right away. You two are lead team on this. I need my best fucking men for this. Finish Harry’s statement, submit it, and we’re all gonna start working on it. Me too. Don’t look at me like that” he quickly adds before either of them can even start looking at him “This is _my_ case, it’s _my_ boyfriend, _his_ kid, and I’m gonna do _something_ about it”

Nobody replies, and Zayn realizes he just called Harry his boyfriend without even thinking about it. He curses himself a little, because they still haven’t spoken about what they are yet, about petty things like dating, and now it’s not the time, now Harry is worried sick for his daughter, and Zayn too, and he doesn’t want to fuck it up just by rambling.

He dares look at Harry, and Harry is just staring at him with half a smile, half a frown, but it doesn’t look like a _bad_ expression. Zayn silently thanks God Harry didn’t have a meltdown about it right in the middle of the precinct.

They don’t speak as Louis finishes compiling Harry’s report, and soon enough Louis and Niall are standing, bagging the two drawings and the two pictures as evidence and leaving the room to go to the basement, at the scientific lab.

Zayn stands up, trying to focus on one task at a time. “I need a picture of Lizzie, Harry. One where her face is clearly visible. I need it to give it to my men and set up patrols for the school and your place. I’m sorry if this feels like an infringement of your and Lizzie’s privacy, but…”

Harry is already going through his phone, and he interrupts Zayn. “Here. I understand” he just says, and the next moment Zayn’s phone pings.

Zayn opens the picture. It’s just Lizzie in a park, the green of the grass surrounding her while she’s standing, hands behind her back, grin and dimples on full display with her hair in two high ponytails, and her cute green dress on. Zayn finds himself smiling, but then forces himself not to, and stares at Harry, seriously. “I’m gonna keep her safe, Harry. I swear it on my own fucking life”

Harry nods. “I know, Zayn. I know you love her”

Zayn nods too, because he does. He gets out of the office, Harry following him, and they get to the bullpen, where Zayn looks at Harry and gestures to a chair before he goes up the stairs by himself, up to the mezzanine floor from which he can see the whole bullpen, and all the officers. “May I have your attention, please?” he says.

Everybody looks up at him, instantly shutting up. Zayn takes a breath. “Tonight I’ve come to the knowledge that there is someone threatening a friend of mine. Her name is Elizabeth Astrid Styles, and she’s six years old today” he says, transferring Lizzie’s pic from his phone to the main screen of the bullpen. Nobody even breathes as Zayn concisely reports the issue at hand, telling them about the drawings and the pictures.

“Detectives Tomlinson and Horan are lead team on the case” he says at last “I want a patrol outside the Styles’ place, in Primrose Street 14, at all times, starting right now, every day until further notice” he adds, thinking that it’s better to play it safe. “Moreover, I want another patrol outside the primary school, starting on Monday, from start to end of the school day, until further notice as well. Am I clear?”

The officers nod. “Inspector?” one of them asks.

“Yes”

“Isn’t Primrose Street _your_ address?”

Zayn takes a breath. “As a matter of fact, it is, officer Olsen. The Styles’ live right across the street from me, so you will understand that this is not only a normal case, but also a threat to people I hold dear. Any other questions?”

Everybody shakes their head, and Zayn nods. “Very well. Effective immediately. I also want daily reports on the situation at the house and at the school. All clear?”

They nod, and the next moment everybody is moving, organizing patrol turns and being efficient, especially the new officers. Zayn chuckles to himself. It really was a good call to be harsh with them at first, because now they’re gonna be quick and effective.

Zayn joins Harry again, and Harry sighs. “”Can I go back to Lizzie now?” he asks.

Zayn nods. “We both are, babe. I’m coming home with you, and frankly, I’m not sure I will be able to sleep at mine, so I’ll crash at yours if you don’t mind” he says with a smile.

Harry seems to deflate. “Okay. Yeah, okay, I didn’t wanna ask you, but I’m glad you said it”

*

“I don’t know how to tell her that we can’t go to the cinema tomorrow” Harry confesses as he drives them back to his place “And I don’t think I wanna send her to school on Monday. It’s just… I don’t know, I wanna keep her home and safe”

Harry sees Zayn turn his whole body in the seat to face him. “Haz, pull over. I need to speak to you and I need you to look at me”

Harry doesn’t question it. He’s jittery and he wants to get back home to Lizzie already, but Zayn’s tone is too serious to be ignored, so Harry does as Zayn asks and pulls over next to the curb, turning to look at Zayn.

Zayn’s hands cup his face, both of them, and Harry is worried about the arm-sling almost falling off in the process, but Zayn’s face doesn’t flinch. “Harry, listen to me, okay?”

Harry nods.

“This person wants to scare the shit out of you” Zayn says “They made sure that you feel like you’re watched all the time, like your life can’t be the same anymore, like they control it. You _can’t let them_ , babe. If you start not going to work, or not sending Lizzie to school, they _win_. And I know you’re thinking that you don’t care if they win as long as Lizzie’s safe, but they _will_ care. If you play their game, you give them more power, Harry. You can’t let this happen. So, we’re taking Lizzie to the fucking cinema tomorrow, because she’s been waiting for this movie for ages. And on Monday, you’ll send her to school, where my men will make sure she’s safe. And you’ll go to work like you don’t have a care in the fucking world, yeah? I know you do, I know. But _they_ don’t need to know”

Harry’s head is spinning and his breath is failing him again, but a tiny part of him knows Zayn’s right, knows Zayn is thinking as a cop, lucidly and thoroughly.

But how is Harry supposed to explain that it’s _his daughter_ , and he _can’t_ be lucid about it? Zayn is lovely, he’s perfect, but he can’t understand what it means, to fail your own daughter and have her exposed to danger.

Zayn sighs, and his tone is much quieter when he speaks again. “I know I can’t understand what you feel” he says, and his tone is a bit sad “But right now, you don’t need someone who understands you. You need someone who can keep you and Lizzie safe. And I am that person, Harry. Let me help. Let me do something”

Harry finds himself nodding. It’s like the hectic day is catching up with him, because he feels tired, so tired, like his bones are slowly melting and there’s water in his thighs even if he’s not even standing. Zayn sighs, and leans his forehead against Harry’s. “And, babe?”

Harry nods.

“I do understand. Lizzie’s not my child, but she’s _yours_. And that’s enough for me”

Harry’s heart is shrivelling to a bleeding clump at those words, and he blinks furiously to get rid of the tears forming in his eyes. “Do you really wanna do something, Zayn?”

“Yeah”

“Then kiss me” Harry asks, begs, really.

Zayn doesn’t question it for a second. He surges forward, pressing his lips to Harry’s, and Harry opens up his mouth for him, taking in the taste of mint and cigarettes and a bit of Lizzie’s lemon birthday cake. Harry’s heart eases a little bit, because if he feels safe with Zayn, then Lizzie can be safe with him too, can’t she?

“Thank you” Harry whispers in-between kisses “Thank you for caring”

“Always do, babe” Zayn whispers back, running his tongue along the seam of Harry’s lips.

Harry doesn’t interrupt the kiss, but he carefully takes Zayn’s injured arm and lowers it, making sure the sling is still in place, running his fingers on the strap around Zayn’s neck. Zayn looks at Harry, and he doesn’t say anything, but for the first time, Harry feels like he doesn’t wanna hear anything for a while.

“Did you understand what I meant, Harry?” Zayn asks after a moment.

Harry nods. He’s not particularly convinced, but he knows, deep in his heart, that Zayn wouldn’t let him do anything even remotely dangerous for Lizzie’s safety. For Christ’s sake, Zayn was staring intently at Lizzie while she stirred bacon in a pan, because he was scared she was gonna burn herself, when even Harry knew there was no actual need to worry. “I live my life normally, because I don’t wanna show them that I’m scared and they’re winning”

Zayn hums, and kisses Harry again. Harry’s feeling kinda dizzy, with all of Zayn’s attention directed at him like this. “Yeah” Zayn says then “And when I catch this motherfucker, he’ll be the one who will be scared”

Harry, despite how sick to his stomach he’s feeling, musters a real laugh. “If this is your scary attitude, you’re just gonna give them a boner, believe me” he declares “Although that might only be me. That little authoritarian speech you gave at the precinct? If I wasn’t so fucking scared out of my wits for Lizzie, it might have given _me_ a boner”

Zayn laughs. “You’re both gonna be fine, babe” he then says while Harry restarts the engine, almost like he’s talking more to himself than to Harry.

They don’t speak much more after that, but Harry finds that if Zayn is right next to him, he can breathe a little bit better.

*

The next morning, when Harry wakes up from a fitful sleep way before his alarm even goes off, the first thing he realizes is that Zayn is wrapped around him, his front glued to Harry’s side and one arm slung across Harry’s stomach, while the other is trapped under his body in the sling. Harry smiles a little, and wonders if he should wake Zayn up and tell him to put it in a more comfortable position, seeing that he’s still injured.

Nothing happened between them, they didn’t even speak that much once they got to bed, after Zayn told Harry that he could take the couch and Harry rolled his eyes at him, telling him not to be daft and that they could share his bed.

Then, Harry feels eyes directed at him from his other side, and when he turns, he finds Lizzie staring at him, her green eyes blinking and absurdly close to his face while she stands at the side of the bed, her hands pressed on the edge of the mattress for balance, because she can’t quite reach it yet.

_Fuck_ , is his first thought, _I’m in bed with Zayn and she’s here what do I tell her is this okay am I fucking everything up what do I do what do I do_.

“Daddy” she whispers, a small hiss “There’s _police_ outside our house! Are they gonna arrest me because I didn’t have a _license_ for my party?”

Harry chuckles, because sometimes he honestly doesn’t know where Lizzie takes her ideas from, and shakes his head. “No, pumpkin” he whispers “They’re just there to make sure everything is fine, don’t worry”

“Oh, okay” she keeps whispering “Daddy?”

“Yes, Lizzie”

“Did you have a sleepover with Zee and you didn’t invite me?”

The knot in Harry’s throat loosens a little, because clearly Lizzie doesn’t find Zayn sleeping with Harry that weird, so maybe he isn’t fucking anything up too bad by starting a relationship with someone and already having them involved with Lizzie so much. _It’s fine, it’s fine, everything’s gonna be fine_ , he tells himself.

“No” he says in another whisper “Zayn was just tired after the party so he stayed, but uncle Liam and Bear are in the guest room, so he slept here”

Lizzie hums. “Okay” she replies simply, still whispering.

“Why are you whispering? Are you telling each other secrets? I wanna know all the secrets” Zayn slurs next to Harry, who was giving him his back to look at Lizzie.

Lizzie giggles. “Zee, there’s _police_ outside our house” she says in a normal tone “Are you their boss? Are they here because I’m gonna go to jail for not having a license for my birthday party?” she then asks.

Harry arches his eyebrow at her not totally believing him and just making sure she’s safe from prison with Zayn because she knows Zayn is the _real deal_ in terms of crime.

Harry turns to look at Zayn, and finds him wide awake, with a grin on his lips. “Yes, Liz, I’m afraid I will have to arrest you”

Lizzie gasps. “I want a lawyer”

Zayn bursts out laughing, hard, sitting up and looking at Lizzie like he’s proud. “Good answer, Liz. If you’re ever arrested, the first thing you should do is ask for a lawyer. Remember it”

Harry rolls his eyes. “Can we stop talking about my daughter going to jail?”

Lizzie giggles again, and struggles to climb the mattress until she’s jumping over, landing on Harry’s stomach and cutting his breath clean off. “Good morning, Daddy” she says, and then “Good morning, Zee”

“Good morning, pumpkin” Harry replies.

“Good morning, vicious criminal” Zayn says instead.

Lizzie laughs, and then wraps her arms around Harry’s neck, pressing her nose against his and looking at him until her eyes go cross. “Do you know what happens today, Daddy?” she squeals.

Harry suppresses an eyeroll. “No, pumpkin, I really don’t know”

“We’re going to see the _Lion King_!” she exclaims, shouts, really.

Harry’s eyelids tremble. “Don’t shout, butterfly. Zayn just woke up”

“I don’t wanna be involved like this” Zayn declares “You can shout in your father’s face as long as you want, Liz. Don’t mind me”

Harry sends him a betrayed glance while Lizzie laughs a screechy laugh, probably damaging Harry’s eardrums for life. Harry shushes her while keeping her in his lap until she’s done being a Banshee and just giggles, obviously happy about what the day entails.

Harry swears to himself that he’ll do whatever he can to keep his kid happy.

*

It takes a while, but Harry manages to convince Liam that everything’s under control, and he can go back to Leeds with Bear. Liam doesn’t seem particularly convinced, but he sighs and agrees anyway, taking care of hugging Zayn on his way out and begging him to keep Harry and Lizzie safe.

Zayn promises it to him too, and he means it.

Neither Zayn nor Harry have work on Saturdays, but Zayn would very much like to go to the precinct and gather updates on what the lab found on the evidence. He knows it’s pointless, though, because if they’d found anything, Niall and Louis would have called Zayn straight away.

That means they have literally zero leads for now, although he doesn’t tell Harry that.

He goes home to shower and eat, because he still feels a little like he’s monopolizing Harry and Lizzie, intruding in their life. Harry seems a bit sad to see him go, even if he’s just crossing a street, and Zayn doesn’t ask if it’s just because he doesn’t feel safe without Zayn, or because he genuinely doesn’t want him to go. That’s a question for another time.

The patrol is right beside Harry’s yard, with officers Olsen and Parker stationed in the car. They wave at him as he reaches the car. “Good morning. Something up?” he asks.

“Good morning, Inspector” Olsen replies “No, absolutely nothing. The house has stayed clear the whole night”

“Good. During the day, don’t just stay stationed here. Take tours around the neighbourhood. We don’t have any leads, and if the person realizes the house is being watched at all times, they won’t try anything else. I _want_ them to try something. It’s the only way we’ll catch them”

They nod.

Zayn parts ways with them, and gets inside his own place.

*

Harry and Lizzie come out of the house just as Zayn is doing the same. Zayn sees Harry take a nervous look around, and silently prays for him to get a grip before Lizzie notices something’s off with her father.

Lizzie is wearing jeans and a nice t-shirt with the Rolling Stones logo, and she’s clutching the envelope with the tickets to her chest like it’s her most prized possession. Zayn smiles at them, and waves.

“Good afternoon!” Lizzie then screams to the two officers in the car next to her house “My name is Elizabeth St…”

“Lizzie, stop” Harry says quickly and harshly, and Lizzie freezes, frowning at Harry.

Zayn sighs, and crosses the street to reach them.

“Lizzie, you must not speak to strangers, okay? We talked about this” Harry tells his daughter, who suddenly looks smaller and smaller now that Harry towers over her with that serious expression.

Lizzie is still frowning, and it gives Zayn a bit of a heartache. “Daddy? But they work with Zee so it’s fine? I’m sorry”

Harry seems to realize he’s being too harsh, and he sighs, kneeling to be at eye-level with Lizzie and putting his big hands on her small shoulders. “No, pumpkin, I’m sorry. I just worry, okay? Stranger danger, remember? Some people are bad, and I’m worried for you”

Lizzie smiles. “It’s okay, Daddy. Zee is here. He’ll protect us. He’s a superhero”

Zayn feels the weight of the responsibility like an anvil on his shoulders, because what if he _fails_ her, what if she stops having such a blind faith in him and realizes he’s not _enough_? He briefly wonders if that’s what Harry feels as a father on a daily basis. It’s shit.

Nonetheless, he smiles down at Lizzie. “Liz’s right, Harry. I’m here, and we’re all fine”

Harry looks up at Zayn, much like his daughter is doing, and in the end he smiles. “Okay then” he says, and kisses Lizzie on the cheek. Lizzie chuckles and hugs Harry before he can stand up. Harry does anyway, bringing Lizzie up with him in the process until she’s rested on his hip, her arms tightly wrapped around his neck.

Zayn nods to the officers, and they nod back, tentatively waving at Lizzie with a smile when Lizzie waves at them first. Zayn chuckles to himself, because maybe Lizzie is growing out of her shy phase already, while Harry was worried it would never happen. Not that he’s happy Lizzie just spoke to two strangers. But Zayn believes she only did because she knows they’re working with Zayn, and she trusts Zayn.

“Sorry” Harry murmurs to Zayn as they walk to the cinema. He’s still nervously looking around.

Zayn shakes his head. “It’s fine, Haz. I swear” he replies, quickly brushing a hand up and down Harry’s back, to try and reassure him. Harry’s back seems to relax a bit under his hand.

“Are you scared, Daddy?” Lizzie asks, frowning and pulling back a little to look at Harry in the eyes “You look scared”

Harry shakes his head. “I’m not, butterfly. I’m just excited for the movie”

Lizzie grins. “Oh, okay. Me too” she says.

Zayn thinks not even Lizzie fully believes Harry.

*

The movie goes great. It’s amazing, the effects and the CGI and everything, and Zayn is not ready to admit—neither is Harry, probably—that Lizzie was not the one who cried the most, out of the three of them.

She laughs a lot during the movie, sitting right between Harry and Zayn, mouthing the words to the songs without uttering a sound. Zayn spends half of the movie just looking at her, and sometimes he catches Harry’s eyes while he does the same.

Lizzie is still very excited when they come out of the theatre, holding Zayn’s and Harry’s hand, and prancing a little while she gives a detailed report of the movie, with her favourite scenes, her judgement on the differences with the original movie, and a complete ranking of all the songs from worst to best.

Zayn wonders if that’s what it feels like, having a child. If it’s always smiling when they’re happy, worrying when they’re in danger, and generally not having eyes for anybody else. Then he scolds himself, because Lizzie is not _his_ child. She’s _Harry’s_ , and that’s how it should be. Zayn is an addition to their life, and no matter how much he wants to keep being there with them, it’s something for Harry to decide entirely, because you don’t just throw random people into your kid’s life like that, as Louis always says.

Zayn desperately wants Harry to decide Zayn is worthy of staying.

Despite her excitement, Lizzie almost falls asleep while walking back to their house. Harry is buying them all a hot-dog as dinner, and Zayn is holding Lizzie’s hand a bit further away, when he feels her lean into his leg. When he looks down, she’s yawning and trying to keep her head straight.

Zayn chuckles. “Are you sleepy?”

Lizzie hums and nods.

“C’mere, you” Zayn sighs, and picks her up. She goes willingly, burying her face in Zayn’s neck and wrapping her arms around his neck, and her legs around his torso, like a koala bear. Zayn holds her tight, rubbing circles on her back, and slightly rocking her because he can’t help it.

“I sleep” Lizzie declares “Goodnight”

And she’s out.

She smells of peaches. It’s probably a shower gel, because Harry smells the same, only with a hint of cologne as well. Zayn looks at him while he grabs their order from the girl at the register, and then realizes he didn’t ask permission to hold his daughter, again. His heart starts to thump unevenly when Harry spots them and reaches them, because _I crossed another fucking line what do I do can I do this what the fuck am I doing_.

Harry just smiles and apparently doesn’t even think about it. “She already out?” he just asks.

Zayn nods, finding his voice and wondering if his life is this, now, being scared of having crossed a line when he’d rather the line not be there _at all_. “Yeah” he says at last “She said ‘I sleep, goodnight’, and out she went”

Harry chuckles. “I knew that. I saw the tell-tale sign when she leaned into your leg. That’s why I had the girl put Lizzie’s hot-dog in a take-away bag”

Zayn hadn’t even noticed Harry was looking at them, because he was too busy giving all his attention to the child. _Is this what having a kid feels like?_ , he wonders again, and then tames his rebellious brain.

Zayn doesn’t let Lizzie go, and Harry doesn’t ask him to give her back, not even when they stop to sit on a bench and eat their hot-dogs. It’s not comfortable, eating with a sleeping six-year-old in your lap, and yet Zayn doesn’t think even for a moment that he’d be more comfortable if Lizzie just wasn’t there.

“Are you feeling better?” Zayn asks Harry in a whisper as they resume their walk to the house.

Harry nods. “Yeah. Nothing happened. You were right”

Zayn smiles. “I, Harry Styles, am always right”

“Bit pretentious, ain’t you. Must be the whole Inspector Malik thing. It got to your head”

Zayn loves the grin on Harry’s face, he thinks in that moment. “I’m not punching you just ‘cause I’m doing something better right now” he replies, gesturing to Lizzie in his arms with his head.

Harry doesn’t reply for a moment. “Doesn’t your arm hurt? You can give her to me if it does”

It doesn’t. Zayn realizes only then that he hasn’t even _thought_ about his arm when he’s picked Lizzie up. “I’m fine. The treasure stays with me” he declares.

Harry chuckles, and doesn’t reply, but he walks a bit closer to Zayn, like he’d hold his hand if his hands weren’t already busy.

Zayn secretly loves the idea.

They get to Harry and Lizzie’s place in five minutes, and once they’re inside, Harry sighs. “Brace yourself for the strop” he tells Zayn, and then starts slowly stroking Lizzie’s cheek with his knuckles “Pumpkin? Wake up, pumpkin. You need to eat something before you go back to sleep”

Lizzie frowns from where her face is still resting on Zayn’s shoulder. “No” she slurs, covering her eyes with her hand.

Harry sighs again. “C’mon, butterfly” he says very lowly, in a rumble that goes right to Zayn’s heart, stomach, and somewhere else too, if he’s honest.

“I sleep” Lizzie whines.

“I know, I know” Harry replies “You have to eat. And then you can sleep”

Lizzie mutters something unintelligible, but then opens her eyes and sees Zayn looking at her. She sighs heavily. “Hi, Zee. I hate this” she tells him.

And that’s it. She moves so that Zayn will put her down, and then brushes her eyes with her fingers until her eyes are wide open. “I’m awake” she says.

Harry gapes. “No strop?” he asks, like he’s _disappointed_.

Lizzie frowns. “Daddy? Are you okay?”

Zayn laughs, and Harry punches him in the arm. “It’s just ‘cause it’s _you_ ” Harry says defensively.

Lizzie decides she wants to wear her pyjamas before she eats her hot-dog, her head still swaying a little every now and then, and when she’s done eating, she yawns and raises her arms, like she wants someone to pick her up from the chair.

The someone is _Zayn_ , Zayn realizes with a flutter of his heart, because she’s looking at him.

He looks at Harry. He doesn’t know what to do, _lines crossed, are there even any lines right now?_

Harry just smiles at him and points his head at Lizzie, so Zayn reaches her and picks her up.

Harry leads the way for Lizzie’s room, and Zayn follows obediently, with Lizzie close to his chest and his heart beating a bit more quickly, a bit more at ease.

*

Harry doesn’t know why, but he leaves Lizzie’s room while Zayn puts her to bed.

It’s probably some sort of defence mechanism, he thinks, because Zayn seems to be so absorbed into his task of putting Lizzie to bed that he’s not even looking at Harry, and Harry honestly thinks this is too good to be true. That Zayn is so close to his kid already, that Zayn actually _wants_ to be.

It’s not how it works, right? People don’t just stumble upon you and you let them close to your children.

And yet Harry didn’t even question it with Zayn, because Zayn has been kind to Lizzie from the start, and Harry had never dreamt that someone could do that, apart from himself. Never in his wildest dreams did he think that the day would come when someone would accept Harry _and_ Lizzie, loving them both.

Is it even love? It can’t be, it’s too soon. But it sure feels like it’s heading there, at least to Harry, because Harry always loves quickly and desperately, and that’s why he always gets burned, or so his mother says.

Harry doesn’t want to get burned with Zayn too, because if it happens, he’s sure Lizzie will be burned as well, and he’ll never forgive himself.

He’s still in the corridor, outside Lizzie’s room, when he hears his daughter’s voice. “Zee?” she says “Can you sing me a song?”

Zayn stutters a little bit while Harry gapes to himself, but then “Yeah, of course, Liz” he replies.

Harry stays there in the darkness, listening to Zayn singing his own version of _Can’t Help Falling In Love_ by Elvis to Lizzie, with a voice so soft and delicate Harry wouldn’t mind sliding into bed next to Lizzie and falling asleep with that as well.

_Shall I stay?_

_Would it be a sin_

_If I can't help falling in love with you?_

Harry feels hot tears burning his cheeks while he listens, because the words hit something deep inside his heart, and he wants to just tell Zayn that yes, he should stay, he should never go, because Harry is very close to not being able to stand Zayn being away.

_Like a river flows surely to the sea_

_Darling so it goes_

_Some things are meant to be_

_Take my hand, take my whole life too_

_For I can't help falling in love with you_

Zayn finishes the song for Lizzie, and Harry clearly hears Lizzie snuffle a little in her pillow, like she always does before falling asleep. “Will you stay, Zee?” she asks in a small, sleepy voice.

Zayn answers without even a single pause. “Yes, Liz. I’ll stay”

Harry has to choke back a sob, and before he can do anything about how shamelessly he’s crying, Zayn is coming out of the room, not closing the door because of course he remembers Lizzie doesn’t like her door to be closed.

“Harry?” Zayn frowns in the faint, almost non-existent, light coming from Lizzie’s room and her fairy lights.

Harry gulps down his tears, still with his back to the wall of the corridor. “Did you mean it?” he asks Zayn.

“Yes” Zayn replies, surely.

“Did you, Zayn? Because I’m sorry, but if you don’t mean it, then you have to go now, before my daughter gets too attached to you. I tried not to think too much about this, but I have to, Zayn, because I can’t have you breaking her heart. And breaking _my_ heart as well. We’ve both been broken enough, and I won’t let it happen to Lizzie again. So I have to ask you one more time. Did you mean it, that you wanna stay?” Harry speaks in a whisper, but quickly, because he can’t _not_ speak, he needs to know, because his daughter comes first, his daughter is more important than anything.

Zayn doesn’t budge, doesn’t wait, and he just answers, taking another step towards Harry, until their faces are almost touching. “Yes, Harry. I meant it, I mean it. I understand your fears, your concerns, and I won’t blame you for them, because I would be worried about the same things if our roles were inverted. And I also understand it must be a big change, this, whatever we’re becoming, even if it’s been just a short time. But I haven’t done anything but think about you, and Lizzie, so there you have it”

Harry nods. “Me neither. I think about you all the time”

“And” Zayn keeps speaking, licking his lips like he’s nervous “I want you to know that if you need more time to think about this, to talk about it with Lizzie, when you’re ready and on your own terms, then I can wait. I can bloody wait for you to be ready to give this a chance. I didn’t want anything with anyone until four days ago, and look how much you already changed my mind” he chuckles a bit incredulously “But I want it with you. And I know you probably had a shitton of people telling you that they weren’t ready for your kid, that she was either too much or not what they wanted, but Harry, rest assured I want you _and_ your kid, because you two are a single deal, and I don’t want to have it any other way, okay? I won’t tell you that I accept Lizzie, because she’s not something that needs to be _accepted_. I will tell you that I _want_ her just as much as I want you, and this is all I have, Harry, so I need to know if it’s enough. Because if it isn’t, I don’t have anything else, and I need to go before _you_ break _my_ heart”

Harry doesn’t try to stop his own tears anymore, and he just nods, his hands going to cup Zayn’s face. “It is. It’s enough. It’s more than enough. It’s anything I’ve ever wanted to hear”

Zayn smiles, a flash of white teeth in the darkness of the corridor. “Good” he just says, and then kisses Harry.

When their mouths collide, Harry feels tears on Zayn’s face as well, like the things they said were important and hard to say for him as well, which is fair, if Harry’s honest.

He doesn’t have time to think about much else, because then Zayn is grabbing Harry by the waist, taking off the arm-sling and shushing Harry when he tries to protest, and then they’re both stumbling towards Harry’s room, their mouths still entwined.

They get inside, and Zayn closes the room by shoving Harry into it, very slowly, very quietly, making sure they don’t make noise enough to wake Lizzie up. Then Zayn attacks Harry’s lips again, and it’s frantic and urgent, their hands fumbling with each other’s jeans and shirts without stopping kissing. Harry has the presence of mind to blindly reach for the handle and lock the door, and he compliments himself for that, because his brain is almost gone by now.

Their clothes are laying on the floor when they finally reach the bed, Zayn gently pushing Harry until he’s sitting on it. Harry looks up at Zayn, and he honestly thinks he’s never seen anything more beautiful. Zayn has tattoos almost all over, wings on his collarbones, some word in Arabic, full sleeves of mandalas and lines running up his arms. He wonders if the stabbing fucked up some of his ink, under the bandage, but he doesn’t have time to ask before Zayn is straddling him, their hard dicks touching and the light friction already making Harry shiver.

Zayn kisses him again, and at the same time he wraps a hand around them both, starting to tug slowly and torturously, and Harry gasps in Zayn’s mouth, closing his eyes and breathing through his nose to avoid coming too embarrassingly quickly.

“It’s…” he pants “It’s been a long while”

Zayn chuckles. “Don’t worry, babe. I got you” he replies, and bucks his hips into his own fist.

Harry whimpers at the sensation, and then kisses Zayn some more, both to muffle his groans and because he just wants to.

“Tell me what you want, Harry” Zayn whispers then, interrupting the kiss “Whatever’s fine by me”

Harry nods. “I want you to fuck me, Zayn”

“Okay. Okay” Zayn says, and shivers.

He pushes Harry until he’s lying down in the middle of the bed, and then crawls over him. Harry opens his drawer and retrieves lube and a condom before Zayn fries even the last of his braincells. Zayn sighs, and then pours a generous amount of lube on his fingers, looking at Harry in the eyes as he lowers himself on him, and takes him in his mouth just as he pushes one finger past his rim.

Harry gasps and arches his back, Zayn holding him by one hip to steady him. He gags a little on Harry’s cock, but he doesn’t stop sucking and bobbing his head, the same steady motion he’s applying to his finger in Harry’s hole, and after a moment he slides a second finger in.

Harry starts to feel the burn, but he takes it, because he wants this so much, it’s been ages since he actually _wanted_ it, and Zayn is taking care of being slow and attentive, and Harry could die like this and die a happy man.

The fingers become three, and that’s when Zayn starts scissoring them, while at the same time he takes Harry all the way inside his mouth, and Harry feels his dick hit the back of Zayn’s throat, and groans.

He closes his eyes, biting on his own hand to avoid fucking screaming.

Zayn removes his mouth from Harry’s dick. “Fuck, babe, you look so good” he murmurs, and then his fingers are gone too.

He kisses Harry one more time, and Harry shoves his tongue into Zayn’s mouth, eager to taste himself there. It’s something he’s never wanted to do before, but now he wants it, and it’s hot.

“Hands and knees, babe?” Zayn asks “Might be easier. You weren’t joking when you said it’s been a long time”

Harry feels his cheeks and chest get warmer, but he does like Zayn asks, and turns around, exposing himself to Zayn completely, and he feels Zayn’s hand run from the base of his spine to the nape of his neck, causing goose-bumps in its wake. “Harry, Harry, Harry” Zayn whispers “You’re so fucking beautiful, how could I ever _not_ want this” he adds, like he’s talking to himself.

Harry’s face is bursting into flames, so he doesn’t turn. “Please, Zayn, please, fuck” he just mutters, his face buried in the pillow.

Zayn emits a small sigh, and then Harry hears the noises of him ripping the foil of the condom open. A moment later, Zayn is lining himself up with Harry’s hole, and then he’s pushing in.

It hurts, Harry won’t lie. It hurts, but it’s a sweet kind of pain, as Zayn slowly cants his hips and bottoms out, his chest glued to Harry’s back, and his hands propped right next to Harry’s on the pillow, so that Zayn’s mouth is on the nape of Harry’s neck. There’s not an inch where they’re not touching, and yet Harry wants Zayn to be closer, always closer.

“Move” Harry pants, and Zayn does.

He slides out to the tip, and then slams back in, roughly, and Harry didn’t know that was what he needed until Zayn does it. Harry opens his mouth, already realizing he’s not gonna be able to hold back a scream, but Zayn’s fingers slide past his lips, and Harry closes his mouth around them, grateful for the hot way in which Zayn is shutting him up. Zayn keeps pounding into him, while at the same time pulling him up so that they’re both on their knees, Zayn’s other hand holding Harry by the hip.

“So beautiful, so fucking beautiful, look at yourself” Zayn whispers, his lips brushing Harry’s ear.

Harry does. He turns his head a little, to his right where the mirror of the closet is, and he gets a full sight of both their profiles, with Zayn’s fingers still in his mouth and Zayn’s dick going in and out of him. It’s so filthy, and so beautiful, that Harry wants to come and never wants it to end at the same time.

Zayn’s fingers slide out of his mouth, leaving a wet trail along Harry’s chin, and neck, and the same hand rests itself at the base of Harry’s neck, splayed over the hollow between his collarbones. It’s not pressing, it’s just there, and it’s warm, and Harry feels like he’s completely at Zayn’s mercy, while at the same time he knows Zayn is there to keep him safe from whatever harm.

Zayn’s hands settle on the insides of Harry’s thighs then, slightly parting them, and the change of angle has Harry seeing stars. “I’m gonna come, Zayn” he chokes.

He feels Zayn nod behind him. “Yes, babe. Come for me, do it” he says.

Harry comes instantly. Zayn isn’t even touching his cock, but he doesn’t have to, because Harry’s already there, his vision going white as the orgasm is ripped from his body, hot come painting his own chest and the sheets.

Zayn emits a low grunt when Harry clenches uncontrollably around him, and the next moment he’s spilling inside the condom, his hand gripping the insides of Harry’s thighs so hard Harry’s sure he’ll have bruises the next morning. Zayn comes, his breath hot in Harry’s ear, and then he pulls out, slowly and carefully.

Afterwards, as they’re laying on their sides, facing each other and smiling, Harry’s mouth is loose and he can’t stop the words from coming out. “I’m not sure you’re real, Zayn Malik” he murmurs.

Zayn chuckles. He brings a hand to his own cheek, and gives himself a pinch. “See? Real” he says.

They fall asleep after barely managing to clean themselves up and changing the sheets. Harry makes sure that the door is unlocked again, and that Zayn wears his arm-sling, before drifting off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you're thinking :)  
> I am also on Tumblr as wont-you-stay-till-the-am.tumblr.com, come hit me up if you wanna talk.


	4. I trust you, Zee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lizzie cups Zayn’s face with her small hands. “It’s okay, Zee."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is technically the last chapter, so it'll be full of events and very long, as you by now know is my style. I hope you enjoy it! There is going to be an epilogue in the next few days, to tie some very important loose ends of the story.
> 
> Usual disclaimer: I don't know or own any of the characters present in this work. I only own the plot and the original characters.

Zayn gets into the precinct whistling a little to himself, and he gets a couple weirded-out glances from his officers, but he doesn’t mind. It is weird, he reckons, that Inspector Malik is grinning and whistling at eight in the bloody morning, and without having had a single drop of coffee yet.

It’s been three weeks since he met Harry and Lizzie, and things are going great, if he says so himself. Harry is an amazing father and an equally amazing partner, and Zayn has soon discovered that he doesn’t mind the tedious tasks and paperwork at the precinct, if at the end of the day he comes home to find Harry already there with a smile, and Lizzie with her bouncing ponytails and her grins, both of them with dimples on full display.

He’s kinda nervous about tonight, though. Harry has told him that he thinks the time is right to speak to Lizzie about what is actually going on between them. Zayn knows Lizzie loves him, but what if she’s weirded out by her father having a boyfriend? What if she doesn’t like the idea, what if everything gets fucked up?

Zayn takes a breath and shakes his head. _Everything’s gonna be fine_.

There haven’t been any developments in Harry and Lizzie’s case, with the drawings and the pictures, and that’s the only thing that dampens Zayn’s mood a little bit. Whoever it was who played that prank on Harry, it probably was just that. A stupid prank. Because they haven’t tried anything else, and Harry has stopped receiving weird letters.

That doesn’t mean Harry’s worries are eased, not even a little. He’s still nervous when he leaves Lizzie at school, he still worries sick whenever a stranger even just spares his daughter a glance, and he’s generally in a bad mood whenever Lizzie is not around, or when Zayn doesn’t manage to make him think rationally about the fact that _nothing is happening_.

Zayn himself is still a bit worried. That was too much to be just a prank, because there’s still the hypothesis of the two assaults to Jonathan Reese and the Evans’ dog having been committed just for the sake of scaring Harry afterwards. And that’s a level of organisation that is way too high for a simple prank. Nonetheless, everything looks quiet and normal in Primrose Street, and Zayn finds himself relaxing a little bit more every day.

Harry doesn’t. But Zayn is still keeping the promise of keeping them both safe, so at the end of the day, when he lies down in bed next to Harry—which now happens almost every night—he manages to kiss the worries away from him, and Harry falls asleep with a smile.

Zayn sighs, reaching Louis’s desk and noticing all the documentation for Harry and Lizzie’s case covering it. It’s to no avail, Zayn knows. They don’t have any leads, there was nothing on the drawings and the pictures examined by the lab, and no one even remotely suspect has approached the house or the school. It’s a dead end.

Zayn sees Lizzie’s picture among the papers. It’s the one Harry sent him the night he reported the issue at the precinct, the one of Lizzie standing in the park with her green dress and the dimples. Zayn smiles. It’s probably his favourite picture of Lizzie, no matter how many he’s taken of her and Harry in the past three weeks. His phone memory is probably almost full.

“Wait before you start grinning like a teenager in love” Louis’s voice tells him. He’s reached his own desk as well, with Niall. “We have to talk to you”

Zayn knows what’s coming, but he keeps his face straight as he turns to face his best friends.

Louis sighs. “We don’t have any leads, Zed. And it’s been three weeks”

Niall nods. “We’re lacking men because of the patrols at Harry’s place and the school”

“I think” Louis adds, in a wary tone “That it’s time to close this case and declare it cold”

Zayn stares at them. How is he supposed to do that? When it’s about _Lizzie_? They can’t know what the person responsible for the pictures is thinking, and what if they’re just _waiting_ for the police to be fed up with the patrols and the surveillance before they start _acting_ again?

“No” Zayn shakes his head “The patrols stay. We can’t risk it”

“I don’t think you have any power over this anymore, Zed” Niall sighs “The officers are starting to complain. And if you keep this case open just because you’re worried about Harry and Lizzie, someone is gonna report you to your superiors, and they’re gonna shut you out of the case, and declare it cold anyway”

Louis nods. “We don’t want that, Zed. We’ve done all we could, but there’s nothing, and nothing’s happening. You have to close this case”

Zayn looks around, at a loss, but he knows his friends are right about this one. He knew it was gonna happen. So, in the end, he nods. “Give me the fucking paperwork then” he tells Louis.

Then, he claps his hands once, to get the rest of the precinct’s attention. “The Styles’ case is closed” he announces “The patrols are not fucking necessary anymore” he adds with a snarl. Nobody replies, but they nod.

Zayn spends the rest of the day dreading the moment in which he’ll have to tell Harry that he had to close his daughter’s stalking case.

*

Zayn gets to Harry’s place in perfect time for dinner, and with a thorn-less rose for Lizzie. He feels a bit like he’s bribing her into accepting him as her father’s boyfriend, but he pushes the thought away. He just really wants her to be okay with this, that’s all.

He rings the doorbell, and he hears Lizzie’s small stomps before the door flies open. Lizzie grins. “Hi, Zee” she says “Daddy’s making soup”

Zayn smells the air. “Mushrooms” he says with a sigh “My favourite. How did Harry know?”

Lizzie giggles. “I told him!” she reveals “You said it to me and I used my knowledge for the greater good”

“Ain’t you a little superhero yourself, now” Zayn smiles, bending over to kiss her on the head. He then hands her the rose. “For you, my lady”

Lizzie gapes. “For _me_?”

“Do I know any other ladies?” Zayn arches an eyebrow.

Lizzie laughs and then hugs Zayn’s leg. “Thank you, Zee! Come, come. Help me put it in the water” she grabs Zayn’s hand and pulls him towards the kitchen.

Harry’s there at the stoves, a steaming pot of mushroom soup of which he’s attentively stirring the contents, and he turns to look at Zayn with a smile. Zayn would very much like to snog him for the next three hours, but of course he doesn’t.

“Daddy! Zee gave me a rose!” Lizzie announces.

Harry arches an eyebrow. “When men give you flowers, they have something they wanna be forgiven for” he says.

Zayn feels a pang of guilt rise up his throat before he actually realizes Harry is just joking. He isn’t far from the truth, though. Zayn forces himself to laugh, and Harry laughs too.

“I forgive you, Zee” Lizzie grins, looking up at Zayn.

Zayn chuckles. “You don’t even know if I did something” he points out, and pulls a little at one of her ponytails.

Lizzie shrugs. “I don’t care”

“C’mere, you” Zayn says, and picks up Lizzie from the floor.

Lizzie screeches as Zayn keeps her up by her waist, holding her under his arm, and lifts her enough for her to grab the empty vase on the counter and fill it under the sink. She weighs nothing. She keeps being horizontal with Zayn’s help, even kicking her feet a little like she’s swimming, and then finally places the rose in the vase. “Done!” she exclaims.

Zayn sits her on the counter, and tickles her where her top has risen up her tiny stomach. She screams and kicks at Zayn, not managing to fend him off, and the next moment he picks her up again and drapes her on his shoulder like a potato sack. “I won. You’re my potato sack now. I’ll make soup with you”

Lizzie screams and laughs some more. “Zee, you don’t _know_ how to make soup!”

“I’ll ask your Daddy” Zayn declares, turning to look at Harry “Daddy? You’re gonna teach me how to make Lizzie-soup, yeah?”

Harry is staring at the two of them with a small smile. Zayn freezes, because sometimes he can’t understand what Harry’s thinking, but Harry smiles some more and shrugs. “You’ve never been comfortable enough to pick her up without asking, and without overthinking it” he says, in a low tone.

He’s right. There was a time, when he first met them, that every time he even touched Lizzie by mistake, he was afraid of having crossed a line, and that Harry would kick him out of his house for good. Harry, though, had never looked like he cared. Only now does Zayn realize that not only did Harry care, but he’d noticed Zayn mulling it around in his head every time.

Zayn smiles, still holding Lizzie on his shoulder. “I guess I’m comfortable enough now” he replies, almost whispering.

Harry smiles more brightly. “Daddy!” Lizzie screams, kicking the air around Zayn’s head “Help!”

Harry sighs, and then grins. “Yes, Zayn, I’ll teach you how to make Lizzie-soup”

Lizzie shrieks. “I’ve been betrayed by my own Daddy! The nerve!”

Zayn has a fit of laughter, and he’s forced to put Lizzie down while he wheezes and sits on the floor, feeling tears coming out of his eyes. Lizzie is red in the face, her hair a mess and her top all wrinkly, but she’s giggling uncontrollably too as she falls down on top of Zayn and wraps his arms around his neck, their noses touching and her eyes going cross when she keeps looking at Zayn’s.

“Can I tell you a secret, Zee?” Lizzie asks in a whisper.

“Okay” Zayn whispers back “I’m a cop. I love secrets”

Lizzie giggles. “You’re my best friend, Zee” she reveals.

Zayn’s heart does something weird in his ribcage. It happens on a daily basis, with Lizzie and Harry, but it still catches him by surprise every time. He smiles, and hugs Lizzie. Maybe she won’t freak out when Harry will tell her what’s going on between them. He looks at Harry over Lizzie’s head, and finds him still there, still with his small, fond smile on his lips. They keep staring at each other and smiling like idiots until soup is ready.

They eat dinner with Lizzie giving a detailed report about her day, to which Zayn listens like it’s the most important report he ever got, and it kinda is. Lizzie has made friends with everyone in her class by now, although Megan, Robin and Kyle are her closest classmates. Kyle’s father is nice, he always picks him up at school and brings sugar-free snacks for all the kids in his class. Megan’s two Mums are very sweet and they always compliment Lizzie’s outfits, to which she replies that her Daddy buys them for her, and Zee sometimes helps him choose. Lizzie says that she still wants to be a cop when she grows up, and Zayn has to fight the grin that threatens to split his face in two when he imagines an older Lizzie, studying for the tests and maybe asking Zayn for help.

_Fucking hell, Zayn, a month ago you didn’t know if you could stay over for dinner, and now here you are, thinking about Lizzie going to fucking college_. The thought doesn’t scare him that much, if he’s honest.

When dessert is in their plates (apple cake, Zayn tried and failed to bake it, and then asked Safaa to do it for him, and plans to bring his secret to his grave although Harry probably already knows), Harry looks at Zayn with a tentative smile. Zayn braces himself, feeling like any time he took an exam at university, and thinking this is maybe the most difficult one. He nods at Harry.

“Pumpkin?” Harry says, smiling.

Lizzie hums, raising her eyes from the cake and waiting.

Harry sighs. “We… we have to tell you something. It’s very important for me and Zayn that you understand, okay?” he says.

Lizzie nods, and Harry clears his throat. “You know that I love you very much, right? And Zayn loves you too, very much as well. So, see, the thing we wanna tell you is that, um, Zayn is not just a friend for me, okay? He’s, um, he’s my boyfriend. And we want to know if, um, if that’s okay with you, because you’re very important to us”

Zayn thinks Harry’s speech wasn’t too shabby, and he can give him the high quantity of ‘um’s, seeing that Zayn would have never been able to be so clear and careful himself, if he had to be the one telling Lizzie. He’s a bit guiltily glad the job is Harry’s.

Lizzie stares at them for a moment, in which Zayn sees his whole life pass in front of his eyes, he probably ages twenty years in ten seconds, and he has a couple heart attacks too.

Then, Lizzie grins. “Okay” she just says, biting down on another piece of cake.

Harry whimpers a little, and Zayn feels him sag next to him. “Just… okay?” he asks warily.

Lizzie nods. “Yeah” she smiles “I already knew”

“What? How?” Zayn squeals. They’ve been so careful around her, _always_ so careful, what if she saw something, oh God, what if one of those nights Harry didn’t properly lock his bedroom door and…

Lizzie giggles. “Your eyes do their thingie when you look at my Daddy, Zee” she says, wriggling her small fingers in front of her face “They get all sparkly. It’s like when you buy a new Batman comic. That’s love, isn’t it?”

Harry chuckles and covers his face with his hands, shaking his head a little bit. Zayn is frankly speechless, but he needs to speak, needs to make sure everything’s fine. “And… and that’s okay with you?” he asks Lizzie.

Lizzie nods energetically. “Yes, of course. I like you, Zee. So it’s normal that my Daddy likes you too, because we like the same stuff. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” she declares solemnly.

Harry snorts. “Where have you even heard this?”

Lizzie giggles. “Louis said it yesterday when he saw our matching tops with the dolphins” she explains.

Zayn laughs. _Everything’s fine, she’s safe and she’s okay and she doesn’t think this is weird_ , he tells himself with a relieved sigh.

Just like that, the topic is closed. Lizzie is still her cheerful self as they finish their cake, and nothing seems to have changed, except everything has, hasn’t it?

Zayn smiles and grins and giggles, and if he’s secretly a big fucking sap, nobody except Harry and Lizzie has to know.

*

Harry puts Lizzie to bed and watches her sleep for a while, smiling and grateful that everything went fine and no major cataclysm occurred while he fought his way through telling his daughter that he and Zayn are dating.

_Everything’s fine, she’s safe and she’s okay and she doesn’t think this is weird_ , he tells himself with a relieved sigh.

Lizzie is fast asleep in her bed, and Harry checks that the blinds are tightly shut before leaving the room. He wonders if Zayn has still no leads about the stalker, but he reckons he doesn’t have anything, or else Zayn would have told him. Harry doesn’t know if he’ll ever manage to feel like his child is totally safe, if this issue doesn’t get solved.

He goes down the stairs, and finds Zayn in the kitchen, all the dishes and pots already clean and shining. “You’re a dishwashing ninja” Harry tells him, reaching him by the counter and grabbing him by the hips.

Zayn chuckles, and wraps his arms around Harry’s neck. “I like to spare you any unnecessary suffering” he declares, kissing Harry.

Harry thinks he’ll probably never grow tired of Zayn’s lips, the way they feel against his, the way Zayn’s tongue slowly and intently swipes inside his mouth while Zayn sighs.

They stay in the middle of the kitchen, snogging, for a while. “That went well, didn’t it?” Zayn says at last.

Harry nods. “My pumpkin understands love” he says, and then freezes a little.

It’s clear to Harry, what he feels for Zayn. It’s been clear even before it was really appropriate, if he’s honest with himself. But they’ve never actually _said_ it, and he can’t help being scared he’s going too fast, that maybe Zayn is not there yet, that maybe he’s fucking everything up right when it’s starting to just settle.

Zayn must see the small turmoil in Harry’s eyes, because he just smiles, and kisses Harry again. “Yeah” he says “She understands love. And I love you, Harry Styles”

Harry’s insides melt, and he nods. “I love you too, Zayn Malik”

They giggle, and it’s kinda stupid and anybody watching them would probably throw up at the cheesiness of it all, but they luckily don’t have an audience.

And, speaking of which.

“Still no leads?” he asks Zayn with a sigh.

Zayn goes a bit rigid in Harry’s arms, and he slowly detaches himself from Harry, clearing his throat. “Yeah, babe, speaking of which” he says slowly “I have something I need to tell you”

Harry sits down. Maybe Zayn has found something, even if three fucking weeks have passed? Harry feels his legs tremble a little, because maybe they’re seeing the end of this whole ordeal, maybe Harry will soon be able to sleep properly and work properly without fearing someone stalking his daughter anymore.

Zayn must see the expectation in Harry’s eyes, and he sighs, closing his eyes. “No, babe” he says “I… I had to close the case today, and declare it cold”

Harry’s whole body freezes. He’s sitting right in front of the window, and he finally notices that the police car is indeed not there, and how the fuck did he not notice? If he didn’t notice a fucking police car missing, then how many things have slipped his attention in the past days, because he was too busy being happy about Zayn and Lizzie and everything?

“What?” he just says, coldly.

Zayn sighs again, and sits next to Harry, taking his hand. Harry doesn’t swat it away, but he doesn’t return Zayn’s grip either. “Harry” Zayn says “It’s been three weeks, and nothing happened. Louis and Niall didn’t know what to do anymore, and my officers were starting to complain. If I didn’t close the case, they would have reported me, and someone with a higher grade would have taken me off the case, and closed it anyway”

Harry doesn’t reply. Does Zayn not understand that this is _Lizzie_ they’re talking about, and not just _a case_? It’s his daughter, his fucking daughter, and does Zayn not care that much to fight to find an answer?

Zayn sees something in Harry’s eyes, probably, because his own gaze darkens a little. “I did all I could, Harry” he says coldly.

Harry stands up, his hand falling away from Zayn’s. “It’s not enough, Zayn. This is _my daughter_ ”

Zayn stands up too. “I understand, Harry, I do, but…”

“No, Zayn, you don’t understand. You don’t understand because she’s not _your_ daughter, and I know it’s not your fault, but you _can’t_ understand”

Harry realizes this is something he should never have said, because Zayn’s face closes off completely, and his body looks like it’s made of marble for how rigid he’s gone. “What?”

Harry can’t take it back now. “It’s not your fault” he repeats “But this is something that you can’t understand if you don’t have a child, and…”

Zayn chuckles, bitterly, and shakes his head. “So all the things that I told you the very fucking day we decided to give _us_ a try were for nothing, weren’t they?” he comments “When I told you that I want Lizzie just as much as I want you, when I fucking _cried_ over loving a child that _is not mine_ ”

Harry’s heart breaks a little at the utter hurt he can hear in Zayn’s words, and he realizes the mistake he’s made by saying those words to Zayn, when Zayn has done nothing but worry for Lizzie and be there for them. He opens his mouth to speak, but Zayn raises his hands in a defensive gesture, like he doesn’t want to hear it.

“I’ve loved Lizzie like she was mine from the start, even before it was fucking appropriate, and I lost my sleep over it every single day because I thought it wasn’t okay” Zayn says in a whisper, not even looking at Harry “I asked you if it was enough, and you said yes. Now I see that it wasn’t. I’m sorry, Harry, but I don’t fucking have anything else” he adds, his voice shaking, and Harry is horrified of seeing the start of tears in Zayn’s big eyes.

_He’s just trying his best, and that’s how I repaid him_ , Harry thinks with a guilty pang to his heart.

“Zayn, I…”

Zayn shakes his head. “Don’t. Please, I don’t wanna hear it” he says, his voice still low, like he’s angry and disappointed but he’s still being considerate of not waking Lizzie up “I think I’ll sleep at mine tonight” he concludes, and immediately gets out of the room.

Harry doesn’t know what to do, because he’s never _cared_ for anyone so much, except Lizzie. And when Lizzie is upset, it’s so easy to cheer her up. All he needs to do is say sorry and hug her, and the problem is solved.

He knows that a sorry and a hug will not fix what he just broke with Zayn, so Harry doesn’t move, and lets Zayn go away.

*

Zayn’s reflexes make him be extra quiet when he gets back to his house, before he realizes he doesn’t have to, because there’s no one there.

He sags against his closed door, and he feels a bit ashamed that he feels like crying, but there you have it.

His heart hurts in his chest, where Harry broke it by saying those things like he honestly thought it was okay.

_I’ve loved Lizzie like she was mine from the start_ , he’d told Harry, trying to will his tears away. And he’d meant it, hadn’t he? Did Harry not see it? Was it really not enough, the way Zayn had worked on himself to convince himself it was okay to get so involved with a father and his daughter from the beginning, when he barely even knew them?

Zayn had loved every fucking second of it, every grin Lizzie had sent his way, every fond smile Harry had had for him when he noticed how Zayn cared about Lizzie.

On hindsight, he thinks bitterly, maybe Harry didn’t notice shit, or he didn’t care. Maybe nothing is ever enough for someone who loves their daughter like Harry loves Lizzie.

_You told me to go before I broke your heart, and yet here we are now, and you broke mine_.

Zayn goes upstairs to his room, taking care of making noise just because he can. It’s not even remotely satisfying, because he’d rather have to be quiet and know Lizzie was asleep in the room next to his.

_Is this what it feels like to have a child?_ , he thinks, like he’s thought for the past month.

And then he realizes the mistake. _It was never_ your _child, Zayn, and Harry just reminded you_.

He gets inside his bedroom, and opens the window because the air is stale. He’s almost never slept in his own house since he and Harry became a thing. He flicks the lights on without any reason if not that he feels weird, alone and in his own place, even if that’s how he’s always lived his life.

The life _before_ Harry and Lizzie.

He sits on the bed, scrubbing his face to get rid of the tears still clogged in his eyelashes, and then his attention falls on a pink post-it stuck to the wall by his nightstand.

_HI ZEE I LOVE YOU BYE_ , says the post-it, written—of course—in Lizzie’s unsure handwriting, and with a shaky heart drawn at the end of the sentence.

He doesn’t even know when exactly she made her creation, but he does know that now it breaks his heart. He bursts into tears, and he doesn’t think that he’s lucky that no one’s there to see him.

*

Harry wakes up feeling like someone squished all his internal organs during the night. He frowns, and reaches beside him on the bed with his arm, only remembering the night before when he comes up short.

He’s alone in bed, because he drove Zayn away with his own fucking hands.

This can’t be it, can it? He has to fix it, he’ll go to Zayn and he’ll say sorry and he’ll hug him, and he’ll beg him to say that it’s enough, because Harry didn’t believe a fucking word he said, about Zayn not caring about Lizzie, about Lizzie not being _Zayn’s_ a little bit as well. She’s not his daughter and that’s true, but Zayn loved her with all he had, and Harry is an arsehole for letting Zayn believe he didn’t notice or didn’t care.

He was just angry. He needs to fix this.

It’s time to get up, though, make Lizzie breakfast and take her to school. Lizzie comes first.

Afterwards, before going to Leeds for work, Harry will go and stand in the fucking precinct and declare his love for Zayn and say sorry, if that’s what it takes.

Lizzie is already in the bathroom brushing her teeth. Zayn always grins at her and tells her that she’s weird for brushing her teeth before _and_ after breakfast. Lizzie always replies with “At least I’m gonna be weird without cavities, Zee”. It makes Harry laugh his arse off every time.

Now Zayn isn’t there to make fun of Lizzie, and Lizzie is just humming a song to herself while she rinses her mouth and washes her face.

“Did Zee already go to work, Daddy?” she asks while they have breakfast by themselves. It doesn’t feel right anymore, to be just two at breakfast.

Harry nods. “Yeah, pumpkin. He had to work earlier today”

Lizzie pouts. “Oh, okay. I’ll show you guys later then”

“Show us what?”

Lizzie grins. “It’s a surprise. I made it at school with clay!” she declares.

Harry hopes with all he has that Zayn will forgive him and be with them that evening for Lizzie to show them whatever she made for them.

Harry drives Lizzie to school and tries to be normal with her, but Lizzie is his daughter and probably knows Harry better than he knows himself, because at some point she frowns. “Daddy? Are you sad? You look sad”

Harry forces himself to smile. “No, butterfly, I’m okay. I’m just a bit tired, I didn’t sleep that well”

“Oh” Lizzie sighs “Did you have nightmares?”

“Yes” Harry replies, because it’s easier this way. To blame it on non-existent nightmares rather than himself.

Lizzie hums. “Didn’t Zee save you? He always saves me from the nightmares when I have them. He sits next to me and he wakes me up so the nightmares go away, and then he sings me a song”

Harry’s stomach churns. He didn’t even know Zayn’s sleep was so light that he woke up at Lizzie’s tossing and turning in her bed. He just assumed Lizzie always slept fine, because she didn’t crawl into bed with him during the night anymore, but instead, it was Zayn taking care of her.

_I’m a shit father and a shit boyfriend_ , Harry realizes sadly. “Does he?” he just asks.

Lizzie hums affirmatively. “Yes. He’s very good at fighting nightmares, but it’s not because he’s a superhero, Daddy” she tells him “It’s just because he’s a cop. He says the nightmares are the criminals of sleep, so it’s his job to arrest them”

Harry chuckles, blinking furiously to get rid of the tears before they fall and Lizzie sees them. “He’s nice, Zayn, isn’t he?”

“Yes!” Lizzie exclaims “I love him”

Harry smiles. “I love him too, pumpkin” he says, parking his car in front of the school and going out of the car, circling it to go open Lizzie’s door. She hops out of the vehicle and holds Harry’s hand as he brings her inside the school grounds.

He stays there as usual, talking to a couple other parents and struggling to make proper conversation this time, until the bell rings and all the kids are ushered inside by the teachers. Harry says bye to Kyle’s father and Megan’s mothers, excusing himself and uttering a lie about being late for work, and runs to his car, decided on driving to the precinct and bothering Zayn at work until he either listens to Harry or arrests him.

Before he even turns on the engine, his phone rings with a call from Liam. He answers. “Leeyum?”

Liam sighs. “Haz, the Mendes kid just called me. He’s crying, saying that his parents are hitting each other _and_ him” he says without preambles “I need you in Leeds as soon as possible, please”

Harry curses silently, but then he sighs. “Okay, Leeyum. I’m leaving right now”

He ends the call, and curses a little bit more. But there’s kids who don’t even have a _single_ good parent, and Harry needs to do something about that first.

Zayn needs to wait a bit more, he thinks grimly as he drives away from Lizzie’s school.

*

Harry manages to save the Mendes kid from his two train-wrecks of parents. Sometimes, when he takes kids away from their houses, they cry and they don’t wanna go with him even if they know they’re hurting or unhappy with their parents.

Eric, the son of Martha and José Mendes, doesn’t even look at his parents. He just takes Harry’s hand and follows him out of the house while the rest of the social services team takes care of the rest of the deal. Harry’s job is just the kids.

Eric even thanks him for taking him away, and Harry promises him he’ll have a good life. Eric luckily believes him, although Harry isn’t sure about that himself. He’s not feeling particularly positive.

He sends a couple texts to Zayn while he works. They’re not apologies or explanations, because he wants to do that in person. They’re just requests, like _Zayn, can we talk when you get off at work?_ and _Please let me talk to you_.

Zayn doesn’t reply, and it’s weird, because he always does.

Maybe he got hurt again, Harry thinks with horror.

Or, more simply, Zayn doesn’t wanna talk to him.

Neither option seems great.

Harry finishes his shift at work right on time for him to come back from Leeds and pick Lizzie up from school at five p.m.; his only consolation in this grim day is his daughter, as per usual.

When he arrives at the school, he sees a bit of a commotion on the yard. His stomach lurches a bit unpleasantly as he gets out of the car and joins the other parents. “Hi. What’s happening?” he asks.

One of the mothers is pale when she replies. “There’s a kid missing”

Harry’s heart stops as he looks around for Lizzie. She’s not there, but most of the kids must still be inside the school, right?

He makes his way among the throng of people.

“Lizzie!” he hears one of the teachers scream “Lizzie!”

_No no no no_. Harry runs to her, feeling his eyes explode with how fast his heart is beating, and before he even asks anything he gets confirmation by the way the teacher looks like she’s seen a ghost when she looks at him. “Mr. Styles, I…”

“Where is my daughter?” Harry asks, shouts.

“She… She was _here_ five minutes ago, I swear!” she says, tears pooling in her eyes “We brought her class out when the bell rang and parents started picking their children up and she was _here_!”

Harry doesn’t know what he says, he only knows he screams it. It’s like his brain is not processing what he’s doing, the only thought being _Lizzie is not here why is she not here where is she where where where_.

The teacher takes a step back from Harry, scared out of her mind. “I know!” she yells “I know we’re supposed to wait with the kids until a parent or a legal tutor comes, and that’s what I did!” she assures.

Harry probably growls. “Then _where the fuck_ is my daughter?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know” the teacher says defeatedly.

She’s crying, but Harry could not give less fucks about that. She lost his fucking daughter.

“She must have wandered o…” the teacher says, but Harry interrupts her.

“Lizzie would _never_ wander off!” he shouts “She knows to wait here for me. Someone took her” he says, and realizes it as soon as he says it.

_Someone took her. Someone took Lizzie. The stalker. They waited for the police to lower their guard. They waited for_ me _to lower my guard_.

“I’m going to the police. You’re coming with me” he tells the teacher.

To her credit, she doesn’t protest.

*

Zayn has had a shitty fucking day, and it’s not even five thirty.

It’s not the cases, those are easy and the paperwork is still boring him out of his fucking mind. Nothing new there.

It’s Harry.

Zayn can’t stop thinking about him and Lizzie— _pining_ , Louis says—and about the fact that it’s not even been a full day, and he already misses them.

Harry has sent him a couple of texts, to which Zayn hasn’t replied, because he’s a proud arsehole, and because he wants to make sure Harry understands that Zayn’s angry.

Niall and Louis have told him that he’s an arsehole, period, and that Harry probably didn’t even mean all the things he said, he was just angry and scared. Zayn believes them, but he still can’t let this go.

“I need to speak to Zayn Malik _right now_ and I need you to let me fucking _see him_!” someone shouts from the bullpen.

Zayn frowns at the scream and the commotion, and when he looks down from the mezzanine floor where he was talking to Louis, he sees a very dishevelled Harry with a crying girl next to him.

One of the officers is trying to make Harry calm down. It’s to no use, Harry is so angry Zayn didn’t even recognise his voice when he shouted.

_There’s something wrong_ , his brain sends an alarm.

Zayn runs down the stairs while the officer is still trying to fend Harry off. “You can’t just speak to the Inspector, you will have to tell us w…”

“I need _Zayn_ ” Harry says, and then he bursts into tears.

Zayn runs faster, removing anyone in his way without even saying sorry, until he’s on Harry, grabbing him by the shoulders. “Harry” he says, but Harry isn’t even looking at him for how hard he’s crying “Harry, babe! It’s me! What happened?”

Harry sobs and looks at Zayn with red eyes. “Lizzie’s gone, Zayn” he says.

Zayn’s legs give up. He half holds Harry, half uses him to keep himself standing, his fingers digging in Harry’s shoulders in a way that must be painful. Harry doesn’t budge. “What did you say, Harry?” Zayn asks, shouts.

Harry nods. “I went to pick her up from school. Her teacher says she was there, and the next moment she wasn’t” he says, gesturing to the crying girl who’s with him.

The girl nods. “I swear she was there” she says tentatively, and Zayn would very much like to fucking shake her by the shoulders to make her speak louder and faster, but of course he doesn’t. “I told Mr. Styles she might have wandered o…”

“Lizzie would _never_ wander off” Zayn interrupts her “She knows to wait for Harry to pick her up. Someone… someone took her” he adds.

The girl doesn’t reply, and looks from Zayn to Harry, her mouth shut.

Zayn feels on the verge of a panic attack, his heart constricting and his stomach sending waves of nausea up his throat.

_Liz Liz Liz my Liz where are you where where where_.

They don’t have time. He’s right, Lizzie would never wander off on her own, and if someone took her, it must be the stalker. The fucking stalker he didn’t catch. The fucking stalker whose case _Zayn_ closed.

He doesn’t have time for feeling guilty, either. “Everybody!” he shouts, running to the top of the mezzanine floor with his legs feeling like water and his heart coming out of his eyes “We have a MISPER going on right the fuck now. Elizabeth Styles, years six. She was last seen…” he stops, looks at Harry and the teacher.

“Twenty minutes ago at the primary school” the girl says.

Zayn nods. “Twenty minutes ago at the primary school” he repeats louder “What was she wearing, Harry?”

Harry sniffles, and Zayn hates the hurt on his face, he wants to just grab him and hold him to his chest, but he can’t, because Harry doesn’t need someone to comfort him now, he needs someone to _find his fucking daughter_ , and that person will be Zayn if it kills him. “The green dress” Harry says “The one… the one you like”

Zayn feels his heart break some more, and he quickly pulls out his phone from his pocket, broadcasting his wallpaper to the bullpen’s main screen. “Last seen wearing this” Zayn says, and he catches sight of Harry gaping a little, like he can’t believe Zayn would have Lizzie as his lock-screen background, when honestly, who the fuck was Zayn gonna have there if not Lizzie?

Zayn takes a shaky breath. “I have reason to believe she didn’t get lost, but someone took her. The someone being the stalker whose case I closed as cold _yesterday_ ” he shouts angrily, seeing a couple officers flinch guiltily “This is _my kid_ ” Zayn says much more quietly, his breath failing him “Find her”

*

“This is _my kid_ ” Zayn says in a quieter voice, like his breath is failing him and he’s desperately in need of oxygen “Find her” he adds, and the officers start to move.

Harry’s heart would break if it wasn’t already completely broken.

Because Lizzie is really Zayn’s kid as well, Harry can see it in the way Zayn is close to having a panic attack at the thought she’s gone, shouting and begging his colleagues to find her.

Niall and Louis take Harry’s statement, and the teacher’s as well. They make quick work of it, and while he repeats the whole thing for them to write it down, Harry sees Zayn go up and down the whole precinct, talking to officers, directing them somewhere, shouting.

_He’s raising hell for her, and I told him he couldn’t understand what loving her feels really like_ , Harry thinks sadly. He’s never been more mistaken, because Zayn _does_ understand.

When they’re done with the statement, and the teacher is dismissed with a promise of Harry to sue the whole fucking school once he gets Lizzie back, because he just can’t help snarling at the poor girl, Louis and Niall reach Zayn in the middle of the bullpen. Harry follows them.

“Retrace the school perimeter” Zayn is telling a couple officers “See if she lost something. Or if she left something along her way for me to find. It would be something small. Something not easily noticeable. Keep your eyes open”

The officers nod and leave, and Zayn turns to look at Niall and Louis. “I told her that I’m ace at following traces once. She’s a clever kid. Maybe she really tried to leave me breadcrumbs” he says, his hands and voice shaking.

Louis sighs and grabs Zayn by the shoulder. “You have to calm the fuck down, Zed, okay?”

Zayn sniffles. “How? How can I? This is _Lizzie_ we’re talking about, Lou! I told her and her father I would keep her _safe_ , and I failed them both!”

Harry shakes his head. “You didn’t” he just says “ _I_ did”

Zayn’s eyes shoot open, like he didn’t notice Harry was listening. He doesn’t reply, but he lets Harry reach him and cup his face with his hands. “ _I_ failed you and her. I was stupid, and I dared say you didn’t care. But I know you do. I can _see_ it”

Zayn nods and sniffles again. “I do. I do” he just says.

Harry hugs him. “I’m sorry” he says.

Zayn hugs him back. “I’m gonna find her, babe. I swear I will if it kills me”

“It will kill you right the fuck now if you don’t calm down” Louis says with an arched eyebrow “By giving you a coronary. Breathe, Zed. Harry and Lizzie need Inspector fucking Malik at his best right now”

Zayn nods, seemingly forcing himself to stop shaking and crying, and the next moment he’s taking deep breaths and looking at Niall and Louis. “We need to check her room, too”

Harry frowns. “Her room? Why? Do you think…”

Zayn violently shakes his head. “No no no, Haz, fuck, no, no one was in Lizzie’s room, I’m sure” he says “I was there in the house with you all the fucking time, do you think I wouldn’t have noticed? No. I just mean we might find something. A clue. Maybe the stalker approached her before and we didn’t realize. Harry, Lizzie probably _knows_ this person. She wouldn’t have gone with them without making a fuss otherwise. Stranger danger. She knows”

Harry hadn’t even thought about that, too busy having his guts melt and his heart stop at the thought his daughter was gone. “You’re right” he exhales “Fuck. You’re right”

Zayn nods, and slowly grabs Harry’s hand, like he’s scared Harry will push him away. Harry doesn’t want to, so he grips Zayn’s hand tighter. “Let’s go home, babe” Zayn says “I’ll find this motherfucker. I swear”

*

They get to Harry’s place with Louis’s car. Zayn wants to drive, just to _do_ something, but Louis and Niall forbid it, because he’s too on edge and they say the last thing they need is for him to smash his car against a light pole. Zayn doesn’t disagree.

He sees Harry fumble with his keys as he unlocks the door, failing twice and grunting a curse when the keys don’t seem to want to turn in the lock. Niall gently takes over, managing to unlock the door at first try.

“Harry!” someone shouts behind them as they go past the threshold.

Zayn doesn’t need to turn to know it’s Liam. Harry heaves a shaky sigh and runs for his friend, hugging him like his life depends on it. Liam hugs him back just as strongly, and Zayn wishes he could be able to ease Harry’s worry like Liam seems to be doing.

He can’t. Zayn can’t function until he finds Lizzie.

He vaguely sees and hears Liam introduce himself to Louis and Niall, because in that whole month, there hasn’t been any occasion for them to meet. Zayn would rather that the occasion wasn’t Lizzie being kidnapped.

They all go up the stairs, and while Louis and Niall (Liam too, even if he shouldn’t be allowed) take care of checking the major places of interest for Lizzie in the house, Zayn and Harry are left with the most important one. Lizzie’s room.

Zayn’s lungs constrict when he sees the room, and he feels like it’s been years since he set foot in there, even if it’s been less than a full day. The bed is perfectly made, with the mermaid carpet meticulously lined with it, because Lizzie always takes care of her stuff.

There are pictures on the wall. Zayn never stopped to examine them, because every time he was in Lizzie’s room, all his focus went to her, whether she was showing him a new toy or having a nightmare she needed Zayn to save her from.

Zayn looks at the pictures now. There’s two or three of them with her mother, a sign that Lizzie still loves her, despite the fact that she’s a person who couldn’t properly take care of her. Lizzie’s love is blind, isn’t it.

The rest are pictures with Harry, with Harry and Liam, with Bear, with her new friends from school.

And then, in the perfectly straight rows of pictures, Zayn makes out some more images. Of _himself_. Zayn pushing Lizzie on a swing. Zayn and Lizzie sitting on a bench watching the sunset, giving their back to Harry while he took the picture, because of course Harry took pictures of them, Lizzie’s head leaning on Zayn’s shoulder and Zayn’s own head resting on her small one. Zayn tickling Lizzie, her face red with laughter, her dimples digging in her cheeks.

Zayn has to sit on the bed for a moment, clutching at his chest to prevent his heart from bursting out.

The mattress dips, and Harry sits next to him. “She loves you” he says “She asked me to print those pictures I took of you two. She was bummed that we don’t have a picture of the three of us yet, but she said she would remember next time we go out”

Zayn doesn’t reply.

“I’m sorry, Zayn” Harry says then, his voice breaking “I know now it’s not the time. But I need you to know that I’m sorry. I didn’t mean all those awful things I said. I was scared and angry about you having to close the case. But I never believed those things”

“But you were right anyway. Lizzie isn’t my daughter” Zayn answers, feeling tears come out again “She isn’t, Harry, but it feels too much like she is, and if it’s wrong, I’m sorry. But I can’t help what I feel, for you or for her”

Harry nods, his hand snaking into Zayn’s until their fingers are entwined. “It’s not wrong, Zayn, I swear. I… I feel like Lizzie’s is also yours as well. And… and she does too. I, like, I didn’t tell you, but… she wrote something, for school, and I didn’t show you yet because I thought it would be a bit too much, but…”

Zayn doesn’t have the chance to ask what Harry means, because right that moment, Louis, Niall and Liam quietly enter the room, knocking on the doorframe. “We… we didn’t find anything” Louis says defeatedly “Any luck here?”

Zayn shakes his head, deciding to reserve the rest of the conversation with Harry for later, when Lizzie will be safe in her house, with them. They’re okay, they’re gonna be okay. All three of them. Together. “No” Zayn replies to Louis “We haven’t checked her desk, but…”

“Zayn” Harry hisses.

When Zayn reaches him by the desk, they see something covered by a white cloth, and there’s a note on it. _HI DADDY please please pretty please dont look it’s a surprise for you and zee I LOVE YOU BYE_ , says the note.

“Harry?” Zayn murmurs “Can I…”

Harry doesn’t answer, but he slowly lifts the cloth. Zayn says a mental sorry to Lizzie, for peeking into her surprise, but they have to.

Zayn’s heart breaks, stops, thumps, stops again.

It’s a brown photo frame, very wobbly and with uneven edges, clearly hand-made by Lizzie with clay. _Home_ is written in white on the upper part of the frame, and inside it, there’s a picture.

A picture none of them took.

It’s Zayn, Harry and Lizzie, the night they went out from the cinema when they watched the _Lion King_. Zayn recognizes the moment, because Lizzie is in between them, holding their hands and jumping.

Harry stumbles, and Liam holds him steady. “Zayn?” Harry whimpers “How does she have this picture? We were alone that afternoon. Who… who _took_ it? Who _gave_ it to her?”

Zayn shakes his head. “I don’t know, I don’t know” he hisses.

Then he notices another note, next to the picture.

_SPEECH FOR THE SURPRISE:_

_Hello DADDY and ZEE I made this in school with the picture Kyle’s daddy gave to me. It’s a geeft for you becos I love you very much and you are my home. I love you bye._

Zayn’s legs give up, and Niall has to hold him, much like Liam had to with Harry. It’s everything he’s ever wanted to hear, that preparatory speech Lizzie made, noting it down because she’s clever and she likes to revise everything, and yet he doesn’t have time to think about it. “Kyle’s father” he says “Kyle’s father gave it to her, Harry”

Zayn doesn’t have to say anything before Louis is already on the phone, getting a hold of Lizzie’s teacher and asking her to come back to the precinct.

Zayn delicately takes the picture out of the frame, being careful because he doesn’t want to break Lizzie’s surprise for them. He slides the picture in an evidence bag.

Harry has never been paler as they run out of the house.

*

To her honour, Lizzie’s teacher—Holly Trebel, she’s called—gets to the precinct at record speed, running and generally looking like she’s desperate as well.

Zayn forces himself to go into a real cop mode, and makes her sit at the desk in his office. Harry, Niall, Louis and Liam are there as well, fuck protocol, because there’s _nothing_ about protocol in this.

Zayn sits in front of miss Trebel, on the other side of the desk, and he sees her notice the small selfie of Lizzie and Harry he has in a frame, next to his computer. He turns it towards himself, because he doesn’t want her to see it. But he catches Harry noticing it as well.

“Miss Trebel” Zayn says, showing off a calm he doesn’t fucking have “I have reason to believe Kyle Parker’s father is involved. I will need his personal information, a picture, whatever you have”

Miss Trebel frowns. “Kyle’s father? That… Inspector, that’s impossible. Andrew Parker is very sick, he has cancer, has been unable to leave his hospital bed for almost a year”

Zayn’s stomach closes off. “Then who the _fuck_ is the person picking him up from school and going around giving sugar-free snacks and fucking _pictures_ to my partner’s daughter?” he hisses.

Miss Trebel flinches, and Zayn sighs. “I’m sorry” he amends “But you will understand I am at a bit of a loss here. Because you say this kid’s father is stuck in a hospital bed, but for what Lizzie told me, Kyle’s father shows up at the school regularly”

Zayn doesn’t look at Harry. He needs to stay focused.

Miss Trebel sighs. “That’s his uncle. He… he moved here from Leeds at the beginning of the school year to help his sick brother take care of Kyle. Mrs. Parker died at the beginning of the year, and with a father that sick, the kid was basically alone” she says “I think Lizzie assumed he’s Kyle’s father because he’s very… sweet and kind to Kyle. To all the kids, really. He had kids of his own in Leeds, two of them, but social services took them away. I think it had something to do with drugs. He’s clean now, but he never got his children back”

Zayn hears Harry choke on nothing, but he still doesn’t look at Harry.

What are the chances of someone from _Leeds_ , with kids taken away from _social services_ , choosing _Harry’s_ kid for a kidnapping?

_This has to do with Harry. The point is not Lizzie, it’s_ Harry _._

Zayn nods. “A name, miss Trebel. I need a name”

“Michael Parker”

“Very well” he says calmly, and then looks at Niall “Detective Horan, please escort miss Trebel out of the office. I have to ask you to stay here at the precinct for the time being, miss Trebel, in case I need you to answer more questions”

Miss Trebel stands up and nods. “Of course, Inspector, whatever you need. I’m sorry” she says the last part looking at Harry before Niall escorts her out of the room. Harry doesn’t reply.

Once the door is closed again, Harry flies next to Zayn, taking down a chair in the process, and Zayn is frantically typing the name on his laptop, running a search in the police database.

It takes exactly three seconds, and they have a match. Zayn pulls open the picture. “Yes” Harry says “That’s Kyle’s father. Uncle”

Zayn scrolls down, and he finds what he’s looking for. “Michael Parker, 40 years old. Children: Maya and James Parker, 3 and 4 years old” he reads out loud “Taken into custody by Harry Edward Styles, from Leeds Social Services, Child Care Department, following a home inspection in which large amounts of heroin and cocaine have been found on the site. As reported by Mr. Styles, Mr. Parker had been involved in drug dealing for years. The children have been taken into custody and they currently reside at House Of Happiness, a foundation in Holmes Street 3, Leeds, where they are in list for adoption and/or permanent custody. The court deliberated that Mr. Parker is not allowed to see the children”

Harry takes a ragged breath, staring at the pictures of the kids and Parker. “I… I don’t remember them”

Liam pats him on the shoulder. “Harry, this was a year ago. You know just how many cases we handle in a year. You can’t possibly remember them all”

“This is _why_ this man targeted Lizzie, Liam!” Harry grunts “Because _I_ took his children away! I bet he couldn’t believe his fucking luck when he saw me and Lizzie at his nephew’s same school”

Zayn nods, and stands up. “Yes, Harry, this is about you and your job, but it’s not your fault” he says, seriously, staring at Harry in the eyes because he needs Harry to _understand_ “But we can find Lizzie now. We have _places_ we can check. I’ll send a team to Parker’s old place in Leeds, and another at the house where Kyle lives, and…”

A frantic banging on the door interrupts him. “Come in” he says.

Officers Olsen and Madison come in, panting. “Inspector Malik” Olsen says “You were right. The kid left you breadcrumbs”

He reaches the table, and he opens the hands he’s cupping to his chest. When he does, beads and beads of fake crystal cascade on the table.

“Lizzie’s bracelet and necklace” Harry says, unnecessarily, because Zayn recognizes them on the spot.

Madison nods. “She broke them and left beads after herself. They stop around Second Avenue downtown, and we haven’t been able to find any traces after that. We have three patrols scanning the area as we speak”

Zayn doesn’t bother to reply. He just scrolls Michael Parker’s file some more, until he’s able to retrieve the address for Kyle and his father’s place. He runs it into Maps, and realizes Lizzie _really_ left him breadcrumbs, and got even close to where she surely is.

“They’re at Andrew Parker’s house” he says “Second Avenue, number 15. Send a team. Tell them no sirens. And I go in _first_ ”

“Insp…”

“Not a single fucking word” Zayn interrupts Olsen “I’m going _first_ ”

Olsen sighs. “It’s your kid, Inspector. Do what you have to do. I would do the same if it was mine”

Zayn grabs Harry’s hand, looks at the rest of them, and they all run out of the door while Zayn shouts the address to the whole fucking precinct.

*

“You come with me” Zayn tells Harry once they’re outside Kyle’s house “But you stay behind me, and you come out only if I tell you to. Am I clear?”

Harry nods. Zayn sees him shake from head to toe, his feet moving restlessly in the car, like he just wants to be out already, which is fair.

“Zed, this is _not_ fucking protocol” Louis hisses from the backseat.

Zayn nods. “I know. But this is _not_ about Lizzie as we thought at the beginning. It’s about _Harry_ having a child. This is about teaching Harry what it feels to have someone take your kid, and then you know where they are but you’re not able to see them” he says coolly “He could have hidden his identity better if he didn’t want to be found. Hell, he even _talked_ to Harry himself for a _month_. He wants Harry’s attention. So I need Harry”

Nobody replies, because they know Zayn’s right. They get out of the car, and while Louis mutters something and straps a bulletproof vest around Harry’s chest, just in case, Zayn sees his officers hiding in their silent cars, ready for his orders. Olsen and Madison are first in line, he notices.

Zayn gives them a sign, and they all quietly slide out of the cars, gathering behind Zayn. Louis, Niall, Olsen, Madison, Waters and Yates.

He keeps Harry close, behind him, and quietly climbs the small stairs by the front door of the house. The door is closed, but when Zayn tries to turn the handle, it opens.

Zayn orders silence to everybody following him with his eyes, and they go in, soundlessly.

“And then I told Zee that I don’t need that kind of negativity in my life, and he laughed and he said that I’m too much like my Daddy but I don’t think it was a bad thing, it was a compliment or summat” Zayn hears Lizzie’s voice coming from the end of a corridor, and his insides unknot themselves in an instant.

_She’s okay she’s okay. I need to keep her safe. My Liz._

Harry’s hand grips Zayn’s shirt so tightly that Zayn feels it rip, but he doesn’t turn to look at Harry, because he needs to stay concentrated.

He hears Parker’s voice. “Jesus Christ, how _much_ do you talk?”

Lizzie giggles. “Zee says I’ve got quite the mouth” she agrees “He’s coming to get me, Zee, you know. Very soon”

“Yeah” Parker replies “Sure”

“Can I go pee?”

Parker grunts. “Do whatever the fuck you want, but stop talking”

_I’m gonna fucking kill you for talking to her like that_ , Zayn thinks, but then he raises his hand to stop his team. Because he hears Lizzie’s footsteps and he _knows_ she’s coming towards him.

Lizzie shows up in the corridor. She sees him and everybody, and Zayn quickly brings an index to his mouth for her.

Lizzie is the cleverest fucking kid on Earth, because she briefly looks back inside the room where Parker is, and then keeps going carelessly, not to alert him. She even sings to herself as she _pretends_ to go to the bathroom, while instead she gets closer and closer to Zayn.

_My Liz my Liz she’s here she’s safe she’s here here here._

Lizzie hugs him silently when Zayn kneels in front of her. “Zee?” she whispers.

Zayn does his best not to burst crying, his heart feeling like someone just released their grip on it, and his stomach going upside down when he’s able to smell her peach shower gel again. “Yeah” he whispers.

“Can I tell you a secret?” she asks, their noses touching. Zayn hears Harry sob silently behind him.

Zayn nods.

“Kyle’s uncle kidnapped me” she mouths “He thinks I didn’t realize it. But I did. He’s not Kyle’s Daddy. He’s his uncle, and he’s a bad person and he says bad words. I left you traces, Zee. Did you find them?”

Zayn nods again. “You’re safe now, pumpkin” he says “Your Daddy’s here too”

It’s a mistake. Lizzie finally sees Harry in the darkness of the corridor. “Daddy!” she shouts.

Zayn hears the urgent sliding of a chair coming from the room where Parker is. Harry is quick to grab Lizzie and push her behind himself. Louis hands her to Olsen and Madison. “Take her out of here, quick!” he hisses.

Lizzie screams for Zayn and Harry, but Zayn doesn’t turn to look at his officers take her out, because right then Parker shows up, with a kitchen knife in his hand. He curses and turns on the lights in the corridor.

Zayn sees his face lose colour when his eyes land on the police badges and the guns.

“Michael Parker, drop your weapon!” Zayn shouts “I’m Inspector Zayn Malik, and you’re under arrest for the kidnapping of Elizabeth Styles”

“And for being a fucking creep in general” Louis adds.

They’re all pointing their guns at him, but he doesn’t look at them for long. Because then he sees Harry.

“Harry Styles” Parker says with a chuckle.

Harry takes a breath. “Michael, this whole thing is already over. Drop your weapon and…”

“Uncle Mike?” Zayn hears a small voice coming from the same room Parker came out from.

It’s Kyle.

“Fuck” Niall hisses “What do we do, Zed?”

Michael Parker understands the concern on their faces, and he grins. “Come here, Kyle” he says.

And Kyle comes out, a frown on his small face. “Harry? Zayn?” he says when he sees them.

“You can’t do shit without putting my nephew’s life in danger as well, huh” Parker replies.

Harry moves. Zayn tries to pull him back, but Harry looks at him and then takes another step forward, and another, and another.

“Let’s go sit, Mike, yeah?” Harry says “We can talk this out”

Parker is shaking by then. He licks his lips. “You didn’t remember me. And now you wanna talk”

Harry nods. “I know. I’m sorry I forgot. I remember you now. I remember Maya and James. You wanted my attention, Mike. Now you have it. Let’s sit and talk”

Parker nods manically. And then goes inside the room, with his nephew on tow. Harry doesn’t turn to look at Zayn, and follows him.

Zayn takes some steps after Harry, until he and his men are in the doorframe of what looks like a kitchen. Parker is sitting at the table with his nephew on his lap, the hand holding the knife resting on the table, with the tip pointed against Harry, who is sitting across from him and is therefore giving Zayn his back.

Parker sees Zayn and the others, but he doesn’t do anything. He keeps his gaze on Harry.

“Have you felt it, Harry Styles?” Parker asks “The _hole_ in your heart when your kid was gone?”

Harry nods. “It killed me”

Parker nods too. “That’s what I feel every day because of you. You took my kids away, and I took yours. I couldn’t believe my fucking luck when I saw you at the school with your daughter. And then we looked at each other, and you didn’t recognize me” he says quickly “So I thought I would have a little bit of fun with you, make sure you were scared senseless”

“You managed”

“I stabbed that guy in the leg” Parker keeps going like he isn’t even listening to Harry’s replies “And then I killed those kids’ dog. I knew you were neighbours with the Inspector. I thought he’d tell you about the cases, and you’d make the connections with the drawings. I couldn’t have known that you weren’t speaking to him at the time. When I realized, I took it to the next level. I was a professional photographer before you fucked up my life, did you know that?”

The pictures would have been wonderful if they didn’t mean someone was stalking Lizzie, Zayn thinks gulping down to try and wet his parched mouth. Nobody moves a muscle. They still have their guns pointed out at Parker, but Zayn knows they can’t shoot, because Kyle is there. Parker knows as well.

“You ruined your life by yourself, when you became a drug dealer” Harry says coldly “But the picture you took of me, Zayn and Lizzie is very good, yes” he concedes.

Parker laughs. “I gave it to her just to taunt you. To let you know I was still around, closer and closer to your daughter. Are you pretending you’re not fazed by this, Harry Styles? I _won_. You lost your fucking sleep because of me, like I did because of you. I wanted to scare you, and I managed. You looked like a fucking deer when you brought your daughter to school, after I started with the pictures”

Harry nods. “Yes, Mike. You won. I was scared. I still am. And I’m sorry. For making you into this”

“Then give me back my kids, Harry Styles” Parker says “If you’re really sorry, give them back to me. I’m _nothing_ without them, I know you know what I mean. Give them back”

“I can’t, Mike. It’s not in my power anymore. They’re gone”

It’s not the right thing to say. Zayn sees the _anger_ on Parker’s face, and he knows right away he’ll have to shoot.

He doesn’t. Because during the conversation, Parker has let go of the knife, and Kyle, small five-year-old Kyle, grabs the knife by the handle and flings it to the other side of the room, away from his uncle, before jumping off his lap and hiding behind Harry.

Parker is so astonished he doesn’t even move. He just stares at his nephew with a betrayed expression. “Not even my nephew is on my side” he comments, defeated.

“No!” Kyle shouts, crying while he tightly grips the back of Harry’s shirt, staying behind Harry, but with his head peeking out so he can look angrily at his uncle “You’re a bad person! You made me tell Lizzie that her Daddy talked to you and said she could come to our place! Lying is _bad_ , uncle Mike, and I didn’t want to, and you made me!”

Zayn’s heart sinks at the anger he can see on Kyle’s small face, in his blue eyes. He finally enters the room, and Parker doesn’t move while Louis and Niall cuff him. It’s like he’s accepted that he failed.

Harry picks up Kyle, who goes willingly. And then Harry looks at Parker with something akin to utter disgust. “I’m gonna take your nephew away too, now” he says coldly “And I’ll make sure you don’t even see _him_ again, that’s a promise”

Parker doesn’t reply. Kyle buries his face in Harry’s neck, and Harry takes him out of the room after exchanging a glance with Zayn.

*

There are ambulances as well outside the house when Harry gets out. He promises Kyle he’s safe, and leaves him with the paramedics, so that they can check him up.

And then, “Daddy!” he hears, and all the pent-up stress of the last hours gets released, and he stumbles and trips twice as he runs to Lizzie, who is currently sitting on the edge of one of the ambulances.

He grabs her and hugs her close to his chest, _She’s here she’s safe she’s here here here_.

“Absolutely no damages” the paramedic tells him “She hasn’t been touched”

Harry nods, _thank God thank God_. “Daddy? Were you scared?”

Harry nods again. “Yes, pumpkin. I was very, very scared”

“It’s okay, Daddy” Lizzie says, stroking his hair “I wasn’t”

Harry pulls away from their hug to look at her in the face. She’s smiling. _How could she not be scared?_

“Where is she?” he hears someone, _Zayn_ , shout “Where the fuck is she?”

Lizzie giggles. “Zee says bad words sometimes when he thinks I’m not listening” she tells Harry.

Zayn finally sees them, and he also trips and falls twice in the haste of getting to them.

Harry smiles, and moves a little so that Zayn has all the space he needs to throw himself at Lizzie and hug her properly. He picks her up, hugging her so tightly that it mustn’t be comfortable, but Lizzie doesn’t seem to mind.

“I’m sorry” Zayn says, and he’s full-blown crying “I’m sorry I didn’t protect you, I’m sorry, pumpkin, I’m so sorry”

And again, he calls Lizzie ‘pumpkin’. It’s Harry’s nickname, and Harry loves to hear it coming from Zayn’s mouth.

Lizzie cups Zayn’s face with her small hands. “It’s okay, Zee. I wasn’t scared”

Zayn sniffles. “You weren’t?”

Lizzie shakes her head. “Nuh-uh. Because I knew you were gonna find me, with my Daddy. I trust you, Zee” she simply says “And honestly, Zee, you should stop forgetting that you’re a superhero.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you're thinking :)  
> I am also on Tumblr as wont-you-stay-till-the-am.tumblr.com, come hit me up if you wanna talk.


	5. Epilogue - Can I tell you a secret, Dad?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _This is what having a kid feels like_ , Zayn thinks, and it’s not a question anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, a short but very important epilogue.

Lizzie falls asleep in Zayn’s lap while Harry is off somewhere with Louis and Niall, having to give another statement for precinct bureaucracy.

It should be Zayn’s job to take it, but Louis and Niall have graciously decided to spare him, and leave him with Lizzie.

_She’s okay, she’s safe, she’s here here here_ , Zayn thinks as she snuffles, her cheek pressed to Zayn’s chest, her tiny heart beating against his own.

_This is what having a kid feels like_ , he also thinks, and it’s not a question anymore.

It’s certainty, it’s feeling the ground slip from under your feet when they’re in danger, it’s not knowing how to breathe anymore when someone takes them away from you. Zayn spares a thought for Michael Parker, and he fully understands the extent of his torment. He doesn’t justify him, but he understands.

And that’s what Parker really wanted, wasn’t it. For Harry to feel it on his own skin, the loss of a child. Zayn felt it just the same, not that Parker could have imagined.

Zayn himself couldn’t have imagined.

“Zayn?” Harry’s voice reaches him low and quiet. Zayn raises his eyes from Lizzie and looks at Harry.

Harry smiles. “Let’s go home?”

Zayn nods, and smiles too. “Let’s go home”

Home is Harry’s place, of course. They put Lizzie to bed, together, and when she opens her green eyes and sees them both fuss over her, she demands a goodnight song from each of them.

They let her win, because neither of them can still fully believe they risked not having anyone to sing a goodnight song to anymore.

Harry sings his song about _butterfly kisses_ and _Daddy’s little girl_ , and Zayn sings _Can’t Help Falling In Love_ by Elvis, the song he sung for Lizzie the first time she asked for one from him.

Lizzie falls asleep as soon as the song is done, but when Zayn tucks her in, her eyelids tremble and she looks at Zayn for one more moment. “Will you stay, Zee?”

“Yes, Liz” Zayn replies with all he has “Yes, I’ll stay”

“Okay” she nods, and out she goes.

Harry is still there when Zayn raises his head from Lizzie. He’s staring at Zayn with a thousand emotions written on his face, and this time, Zayn understands all of them. The relief, the love, the fear, the guilt. All of them.

So Zayn reaches for Harry and hauls him close, kissing him, without saying a word because they don’t need words right now, they just need to remind themselves that what they have is the best life they could ask for, and it’s thanks to that little thing sleeping under a duvet patterned in sea animals.

They go out of Lizzie’s room, and Zayn leaves the door open, because of course he knows Lizzie doesn’t like to sleep with her door closed.

When they crawl into bed, Zayn fucks Harry into the mattress, even if they’re both tired. The need to be close, to mend whatever they broke with their uncertainty and fear and anger, is greater than the tiredness.

So Zayn holds Harry’s body against his own, and thrusts into Harry with all he has, whispering to him that he’s beautiful, that he loves him, that he’s never felt like this and he never will with anyone else.

Harry kisses him while he switches their position and rides Zayn, panting that he’s never felt like this either, and that he doesn’t even wanna look at anyone else ever again.

They come, muffling their groans in another kiss, and Harry tells Zayn that he knows Zayn understands what it means to love with all he has, because he can see it in his eyes.

Zayn cries a little, because all he ever wanted was for Harry to see that.

Later in the night, when they’re on their sides, staring at each other and with too much on their mind to actually fall asleep, Zayn remembers something Harry said earlier that day.

“What did you mean?” he asks Harry “When you said that Lizzie had written something for school but you didn’t show me because it was too much?”

Harry’s lips quiver, but instead of replying, he just sits up, and rummages into one of his bedside drawers, retrieving a sheet of paper.

He looks at Zayn, but he speaks before handing it to him. “If you read this” Harry says “It will change many things, Zayn”

Zayn nods, and takes the paper from Harry’s hands, starting to read.

_WRITTEN PRODUCTION BY ELIZABETH STYLES, LIZZIE, PUMPKIN, BUTTERFLY, ELIZABETH ASTRID STYLES, LIZ_

Zayn chuckles. “Always thinking she’s Daenerys fucking Targaryen even on official school documents”

Harry chuckles too. “Yeah. Keep reading”

_WHAT IS FAMILY TO YOU?_

_Family is my Daddy to me. I also have Mum but she’s not here but it’s OK because she’s stressed and she needs to rest. I don’t mind because I wanna stay with my Daddy forever and ever._

_My Daddy brings me places and he buys me clothes that match my eyes._

_Family is also Zee. He’s my Daddys boyfriend and Daddy loves Zee a lot but I love him more. Zee is a superhero but please Miss Treebele dont tell anyone because it’s a secret ok?_

_So my family is Daddy and Zee. It’s like Zee is another Daddy so I have two Daddys._

_They took me to watch the Lion King and Zee can do the voices of all the hienas and I laugh so hard I cry when he does that._

_That’s it bye Miss Treeebelee have a nice day._

Zayn doesn’t raise his eyes from the paper when he’s done reading, because if he moves, if he moves just a little, all the tears he’s got pooled in his eyes are gonna fall and he’ll make a mess out of Lizzie’s paper.

Harry must understand, because he gives Zayn a moment, and then slowly takes the paper away from his hands, and puts his knuckles under his chin so that Zayn will look up at him.

Zayn blinks, and the tears fall, followed by many others.

Harry had said this would change many things. The truth is that it doesn’t change much, because Zayn already felt all of that, and more.

Harry smiles, because Harry understands what it means to love Lizzie, he’s the one who taught Zayn how to. So Harry just smiles and hugs Zayn, and Zayn buries his face in Harry’s neck, and cries his heart out for the family he never knew he wanted, but that he got anyway in the end.

\---

**Two years later**

Zayn wakes up to a mouthful of Harry’s hair, and he splutters a little, chuckling when he sees Harry sleeping with his mouth open and a little bit of drool trickling out. He was so tired, last night, and then Zayn fucked him for hours, so he feels a bit guilty now.

He delicately pushes Harry’s mouth closed, and smiles. It’s Sunday, so Harry can sleep all he wants today.

Only then does Zayn feel a bit observed, and sure enough, when he turns around, he finds Lizzie perched by his side of the bed, her small hands clutching the edge of the mattress, which she almost reaches now. It’s crazy, how she grew in the last two years.

“Good morning, pumpkin” he says.

Lizzie giggles, and struggles to climb the mattress, but just a little. _Give her two more months and she’ll be able to climb it with no effort_ , Zayn thinks with a sigh.

Lizzie manages to jump over, and she lands on Zayn’s lap, cutting his breath off when she elbows him in the ribs before sitting up on his legs, her nose pressed to his. Her green eyes go cross when she looks at him.

“Dad” she whispers “Can I tell you a secret, Dad?”

Zayn’s internal organs have a failure. It’s been two years, and in two years, Lizzie has always called him ‘Zee’. Never anything else. And yet, now here she is, calling him _something else_ like it’s the most normal thing in the world, something Zayn has dreamt about hearing more than once if he’s honest with himself.

He feels Harry’s hand lightly and discreetly squeeze his thigh, a silent confirmation that _I’m here and I’m awake and you heard it right_.

Lizzie sighs. “Dad?” she hisses impatiently “Can I tell you a secret?”

Zayn tries to function again, his heart hammering. “Yes, pumpkin. I’m a cop. I love secrets” he says, as usual.

Lizzie giggles. “It’s Daddy’s birthday today” she mouths “Do you wanna help me make pancakes for him?”

Zayn smiles. He sees Harry smile as well with the corner of his eyes, and then Harry fake-snores and turns on his side, giving them his back, probably to hide his grin.

Lizzie gasps and stares at Harry, motionless, until she’s sure he hasn’t woken up.

She sighs. “Scared the sheen out of me”

Zayn arches an eyebrow. “Where have you even heard this?”

Lizzie shrugs. “Uncle Lou always says it when I manage to scare him for real”

Zayn chuckles. Louis and his way of correcting swear words at the last second. “Let’s go make pancakes for Daddy, yeah?” he says.

Lizzie hums and nods. “Thanks, Dad. You’re still my favourite superhero” she says as they go out of the room “Except for Bruce Wayne. But he doesn’t count because I’m gonna marry him when I’m older. I think I like boys for sure. I understood that with Bruce Wayne”

Zayn chuckles and sighs. “Me too, butterfly. Me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has been lovely to write and I cried a lot. I've always had a kid fic in mind, and this is what happened. I hope you enjoyed it.  
> Let me know what you're thinking :)  
> I am also on Tumblr as wont-you-stay-till-the-am.tumblr.com, come hit me up if you wanna talk.


End file.
